Arsenic Heart
by pink-cherry-005
Summary: Riku gets poisoned and is hospitalized. Kairi helps him emotionally and physically and, even though she's seeing Sora, aids him in any way she feels she should. But Kairi's feelings soon get twisted between Riku and Sora... SoraxKairi change to RikuxKairi
1. Back From Confined Quarters

New story uploaded! Disclaimer: I do not own any Kingdom Hearts characters.

Please read & review. Please **no bad or critique reviews, thanks!**

_Arsenic Heart_

_Chapter 1: Back from Confined Quarters_

Friday, the best day of the week (no doubt) was here at last. and 3 P.M., the best time _on_a Friday, was here at last. And so was another mountain-of-books-piled, brain-wracking, attempt–to-sue-the-school-for-giving-you-so-much-homework-a-week-before-winter-break kind of weekend. And as Riku slung his heavy pack along his shoulder, he lingered at the corner of the school for Sora and Kairi.

He'll be damned to be back in the eleventh grade where his two best friends were. At least _they_ could sit out and sniff the sweet smell of winter's free offers—like no homework for three weeks after next week was over.

He sighed, seeing a paled white cloud of his breath puff out in front of him, evaporating thinly into the air. As much as he hated the incoming cold, he hated waiting.

"Where the hell are they. . ." he mumbled, slipping his burdens off his shoulder to rub it back to life. It ached to hold up fifty pounds more than his usual share of work.

Just after, Riku heard voices: one giggle, and one saying in response to it, "You're so cute when you giggle."

_'How lame. . .' _thought Riku mildly, turning as the voices grew closer. Obviously, it was Sora and Kairi, who greeted Riku with fresh smiles.

"There you two are," he said, trying not to sound about ready to choke either one of them.

"Oh, hey, Riku. Sorry to keep you waiting," said Sora smiling, who now took Kairi's hand. "We were just, uh, you know…"

"Making out?" Riku finished, raising an eyebrow.

Sora looked embarrassed. "_That_," he admitted, "and the fact that we were gonna hang out together at the islands tonight, remember?"

"All three of us!" Kairi pitched in, letting go of Sora's hand. "Did you forget, Riku?"

Riku shook his head, but not in response to Kairi's question, picking back up his load. "And did _you_ two forget? I gotta work late tonight. No ice cream for me."

Sora groaned. "Out to your whack job again?"

"Being a part time mechanic _isn't_ a whack job," he retorted, looking cross.

"So sorry, captain," Sora teased, chuckling.

"Can't you take the day off?" Kairi pleaded.

"And not have money to buy any gifts?" Riku replied, then shook his head. "What do you think my answer's to that?"

Sora chucked. "If you can't get the day off, your boss is a-."

"Don't say it," said Riku and Kairi simultaneously.

Riku and Kairi now locked eyes, Riku then becoming slightly flustered. Kairi easily shook it off, but, in the back of her mind, wondered what was bugging Riku.

As the three took their walk—not saying much, for Kairi and Sora shared much of that time rubbing in their love (Riku disgusted as they kissed, snuggled, poked each other, etc.). In a soon ten minutes they stopped just at Riku's house.

"Too bad you gotta work, Riku. We were really looking forward in you coming," Sora said, slightly disappointed.

"Oh, saving the sympathy for now, huh?" Riku grumbled. Not letting Sora have his say yet, he continued, "And what were you two planning on doing?"

"Just what we _all_usually do," Kairi answered, pierced deep by Riku's sudden anger.

"And what could that be? You two don't get it at all, do you." Riku pointed to his forehead as if to his brain. "Remember: I wasn't born yesterday. I know good and well you two'll do just _fine_ without me!"

With that, he stormed up the stoop, Sora calling after him, but just as he did so, his face met the large wooden door. Apparently, he didn't hear the _all_ part, meaning the three of them.

"Riku. . ." Sora muttered in the door. "You're acting like such an ass. . ."

"You're right," said Kairi, approaching her upset boyfriend, "What's bothering him so suddenly? He got all pouty just as soon as we were kissing and stuff on the way home."

_'Could that be the reason?_' Sora thought, taking a slow minute to suggest 'yes' or 'no.'

"Sora, you've gotta talk to him."

"Why don't you try?" he suggested, looking at her from over his shoulder. "He might listen to you more."

"Okay, but let's give him a minute to cool off. I'll call you before I go over."

"Agreed," Sora said, smiling, sounding formal. He gave Kairi a kiss on her forehead, stepping backwards up the trail as he was headed towards his house. "See you later."

"Bye." Kairi waved. She went the opposite way, for her house was in that direction.

_'Riku. . .I hope you're willing to listen. I don't really get that from you.'_Kairi thought, biting her lip in mental anxiety.

Obviously, frustration took over Riku like a cloud of raining needles atop his head. Dropping his bag at the bottom rung of the stairs, he stormed up to his room (like anything else mattered), and jumped face down onto his bed. Although it seemed like a childish thing to do, it felt. . .pretty good. But that relief quickly vanished and his sulking returned. He pounded his fist over his pillow, his head still down, hearing the light _pffft_ of the impact of his fist not damaging the pillow nor his hard-hearted emotion the way he wanted it to. He turned his head so it was facing the curtained window.

_'Sora and Kairi must've left_,' he suggested, feeling a little lighter of the guilt he had for shooting his mouth off.

Not just his friends, but his frustration left, too; the slight redness in his face of anger had melted away. '_Surprise, surprise',_ he thought.

Or _thought_ he thought.

_'It seems you've let me awaken once again, Riku.' _

Who. . .?

How. . .?

No.

It wasn't back.

_Damn_, it was. In his heart, where his hand now was trembling against, trembling like his chest was a clad armor of ice. He wouldn't let this feeling return, this biting frost, then the stabbing pain. . .

"A-A-An. . .Ans-s. . ."

_Yes…?_

"Y-You. . .you can't. . .you can't be-!"

_'Real? Inside your heart, ready to let the deeper darkness bring it in?'_

"Deeper darkness?" he asked after gulping the tremble in his voice.

_'Yes, the lower abyss of darkness where I reside. . .Your heart has sunken deeper without you realizing, now, has it?'_

"No! You're wrong!" he yelled, standing and readying a fist, but not knowing where to aim it at.

Ansem chuckled. _'Am I? Hm. . .Sadly, your darkness isn't ready enough for my return. So with that, I've discovered. . .ways. . .to claim your still-beating heart. However, I can't take it away easily. . .I will have to make it. . ._motionless_,"_ he hissed_. "So when you die, your heart will be_ mine_.'_

"Stop. . .it. . ."

Riku scrunched his fist and hammered it down on his chest. He did so repeatedly, hoping to pound, to bleed, to just take Ansem out, which was not at all working. It only left him panting with a pain of two heartburns. Riku jumped a little at Ansem's sinister cackle, which slowly grew softer, lighter, more distant. . .

. . .until all was quiet.

Riku's icy eyes moved wildly about the room, slowly down to his chest where his hand resumed, feeling a rapid irregular heartbeat: Ansem's "heart," born of Riku's, blending the drums of both. Riku saw this as familiar, reminiscing it back in his previous journeys. He let a sigh escape him as he fell back on his bed victoriously, wanting to reward himself with forty winks. No noise at all; everything was perfect like the volume of the inside of a box. He slowly closed his drooping eyes. Just then, there were knocks at his front door, faint poundings, really. He'd heard it from upstairs from its vast intensity. His eyes sprung open, widening.

Riku cocked his head to the side, grumbling lazily, rising to his feet with slumped knees, trudging as if it took all his strength to approach the door. As he opened it, he mumbled a prepared sentence for _whoever_ could be at the door: "If you don't need five dollars, then go away."

As he focused his eyes on who was at the door, his eyes widened, his jaw dropping just slightly. The color of tiredness left his face and returned to normal, only now a tad bit extra color gleamed his face pink.

He hadn't been prepared for Kairi coming at all!

In fact, Kairi was more properly-dressed than Riku was: dressed in a strapless red top that was frilly at the neck, a long white winter jacket drapped over her shoulders, a pair of long white pants and matching red-and-white boots. She greeted him with a warm smile that faded as soon as she saw Riku putting on a shameful face, for he, on the other hand, was still dressed in his school uniform with a loosened, backwards tie, a wrinkled and untucked button-down, and dark pants that hung loosely around his waist. And being barefoot didn't make his attire any better than how he'd trash it nowadays after school.

"Hey, Riku. . .?" she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Be right back," he answered quickly, shutting the door and locking it, dashing up the stairs.

_'Who knew. . .Sora might've told her to come here,' _he thought as he tossed clothes upward out from his drawers, looking to pull out some decency. Using a makeshift wrinkle-release with his hands, Riku threw on a white tee with black line art all over it, a pair of dark faded denims, black socks, and a black hoodie. Dashing down with his new apparel, he tried again. "Hey, "Kairi. . ." he greeted lightly when he yanked open the door, holding back his panting. "Had to change clothes. . ."

"I see. . ." Kairi couldn't help but smile at this silly thing.

Riku stepped aside, allowing her in. As he did, he seceretly watched the way she walked, the way her hips swayed. He took in a brief thought that even her ass was cute. '_The hell. . .' _he thought, blinking it off and mentally slapping himself. He shook his head, approaching her as she sat on the couch. "Can I get you anything?" he asked, giving his head a nervous scratch.

Kairi nodded. "Sure, a drink of any kind," she answered.

He stepped in the kitchen, grabbed two large glasses, opened the fridge, and filled the glasses with ice and fruit punch. Going back just as quickly as he was in, Riku handed her a glass. "There you are," he muttered. Kairi nodded kindly and thanked him.

Riku wasn't prepared for this _at all_. He found it very awakward that she'd come. Nervousness ate him up for a long time, _worse_ now. What was she doing here, exactly? (For he's clueless right now)

He sat down on a recliner in front of Kairi, refusing to meet her cobalt eyes. He took hold of his glass and slowly, shakily, brought it to his mouth, the ice rattling noisily against the sides of the cup as this happened, and he took a light sip of his juice.

Now in the deep silence, he wondered who should've had the first say. The silence was almost hypnotic.

And it took time, but he finally inhaled as deeply as he could, but exhaled lightly, mustering, "What _thing_forced you to come here, Kairi?" all of the sudden unamused, expressionless, even, which didn't surprise him at all. And by _thing_, he offensively meant Sora, alert that it was he who might've made her to come.

The first thing Kairi did at this question was laugh under her teeth. "Riku, I _insisted_along with him. No forcing was involved." She leaned forward towards his body directly in front of him and slapped his leg playfully, grinning. "Truly, honestly. " She sat back. "I came here to see if you were okay."

"'Okay' how?" One eyebrow rose.

"The way you mouthed off at us. You were a big jerk, you know."

Riku stared at his feet, trying to gather up the words that spilled onto the floor. Kairi then thought she'd hurt his feelings. "Then again, you felt. . .strange with me and Sora," she corrected. "I saw it when we walked home, Riku. Can you tell me what's bothering you?"

Riku snorted off a sigh, vanishing his gaze from her more. "Okay, I'll just come off clean. I'm plain, downright jealous of you. You have Sora, and it feels like you have everything. Sora _sure_ makes you happy, seemingly, _all_ the time. . ."

Kairi giggled secretly. "Are you mad because you don't have him for yourself?" she teased, holding back a burst of laughter.

Riku finally gave a look: one about ready to do some ruthless damage. " I'm straight. So shut up."

"I'm just kidding, Riku!" She nearly laughed her head off, however.

_'It's not that way, it's the whole other way around. I want to take Sora's place in your heart, Kairi. . .' _he thought, but knew it was just fantasy. That thought sounded envious of him. Riku hadn't ever thought this way before, but really just wanted Kairi to be in love with him and—heaven knows how—out of love with Sora.

"But, uh. . ." Riku began again, shuffling his feet but looking at her, "I took a little time after school and called my boss. . .I can have the day off and spend it with you guys." He stood, holding Kairi by the chin gently, making eye level distance, "And I'm _going_. You two being so lovey-dovey isn't gonna stop me."

"Yes, sir," Kairi mumbled sarcastically, looking slightly pouty.

"Good." He sat back down.

Just then, a buzzing sensation swept through Kairi's pocket—her cell. She picked it up and flipped it open, and it was without a glimpse of doubt Sora. Riku sighed, rolling his eyes and slumping back against his recliner, assuming then that she and Sora would spend the whole evening chatting away.

"Hello?" began Kairi.

"Hey, you," Sora answered gleefully.

Kairi giggled, the cute way she always did (Riku thought this). "Hey, back. What'cha doin'?"

"Just called to remind you to stop by my house so we can go out together."

"Oh," Kairi stood up, walking a few steps away from Riku, her back towards him. Her voice diminished to a bitter whisper. "I forgot to tell you Riku will be joining us."

"Oh, great," Sora mumbled in glad sarcasm.

"Just deal," Kairi fizzed lightly. She rose her voice so Riku was able to hear, "_We're_gonna meet you at your house at seven, Sora. That okay?"

Sora drew back a sigh, saying, "Yeah, sure thing. Oh yeah, it's gonna rain late, but we should be okay until then."

"Okay." Kairi's tone changed to a flirty attribute, "Bye, Sora…"

"Love you. Bye."

Kairi set her phone back in her pocket, spinning on her heels back to Riku, who ripped his gaze away from her, his emotion swimming to decide either to deal or bail out on them. But he wasn't a quitter in something that stupid, so he let it go mentally.

"So what time're we going?" he asked randomly.

Kairi tried to study Riku's expression, but it was illiterate because his head was off to the ground, so it caused her to generally look at him, answering utterly, "I said at seven."

"I just wasn't paying attention," he lied.

"I could see that."

Riku held his head in his hands, taking a slow cast at Kairi. She met his eyes, holding the gaze, but it didn't affect her, embarrass her, as it did himself. Why was he so freaking nervous whenever he even _smelled _Kairi? Her scent always was welcoming to breathe in, and he never resisted it when it was present for a while, like a bottle of perfume waiting for a test of appeal.

Riku's distraction died as Kairi sat down again, sipping down the rest of her juice. Riku followed after, chugging it down almost to the point where he'd choke. Pretty much the two were silent as they waited until seven, which was only a good thirty minutes away, so Riku, being as cool as possible in avoiding a shaky conversation, turned on the TV. Kairi gave him an agreeing look as to this being a way to kill half an hour.

When seven hit like an alarm clock in Riku's head, he turned off the TV, saying to Kairi, "We should get going, right?"

Kairi stood up, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, let's go."

Taking a little jog to Sora's house, Kairi and Riku waited by the front door. In no time, Sora poked his head through the door, saw them, and opened it wide. "Hey, Ka—guys," he greeted gingerly, remembering the third wheel at hand. Sora was dressed in a black tee, a red and white hoodless jacket, black pants and black-and-red shoes.

The three walked to the island's shore, Riku separating the two love birds he called his friends by standing in the middle. Secretly, they stretched their hands behind Riku and held them for a short time. They rowed the mile-long way across to the islands, where then they sat on the fresh, frigid sand, deciding what the first thing on their agenda was to do; this was quite an easy one as they all laid back and watched the evening sun sink behind the waves, the light chill in the air becoming more brisk.

"So, Riku, you enjoying this?" Sora asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Where'd that come from?" he asked. He laughed a little when he saw his friend's expression. "I'm just joking. But, yeah, it's great that I get a little sense of time…you know, with you guys." He made the mistake of looking directly into the sun and shielded his eyes now, easing the heavy weight pressing over his eyelids. He looked over to his right to see Sora's back towards him, and as Riku sat up giving a peculiar stare, he noticed that Kairi and Sora were taking the advantage of Riku's presence as they were kissing each other. Riku figured that he might as well be burning his eyes off looking into the sun. "And you guys are my _friends_, so if you two get the hint, then just _stop _kissing." Riku's voice was shrill and tense now. He really was starting to hate _them_as a couple, especially shoving it right under Riku's nose. Sora and Kairi stopped, giving Riku a concerned look, but he'd turned over on his right side, chewing irritably on his upcoming anger. He knew if he didn't let it go, it'd only get Ansem to come nearer. . .

After cooling down, Riku and Sora had a brief talk over the still of the waves, laughing lightly and conversing more—this was a way, Riku hoped, to give Kairi _some_space. (In sense, he actually wanted Sora away from Kairi) Nighttime flew in like a black hawk, and possible rain clouds were coming in. Within those flown minutes, Kairi finally stood up. "I've gotta get ready to leave. I was going to do some early shopping tomorrow, _really_ early, so, I'll see you two later."

"Okay," Sora said, pulling her in and kissing her deeply, and after that, when she turned, he slapped her ass gently. She giggled while giving him a wry expression, leaving this time, waving.

Riku silently waved also. Mentally, he figured Sora went too far with his good-byes at times, but never said it to his face.

Kairi rowed a few feet away. When that happened, Sora and Riku stood. "Wait, Riku," Sora began, breathing a short laugh in suspicion, "I'm getting a sense that you wanted Kairi to stay longer."

"No, it's fine; she can leave," Riku said truthfully.

"Yeah. . .You haven't grown to like her, have you?"

Riku looked up sharply, stuttering a bit, then cringed, saying, "No. . .psht. Where'd you get an idea like that?" He hid his expression in the shadows, hoping that Sora was unaware that his cheeks were flushing deeply.

Sora's grin widened and he, either ignoring Riku's still-pink face or not, pointed at him teasingly. "You like her."

"I do not!" A pitch of anger as well as embarrassment was upon Riku now.

"Lighten up, Riku! I'm not mad, I'm just. . .uh, a little bewildered, I guess. I've known it for a long time, so you don't gotta hide it."

"Since when?"

"Like when you said you wanted to share a paopu fruit with Kairi? Yeah, it was a joke, but I could tell you were serious, especially when I beat you!"

"I went easy on you. I know you aren't that fast."

"Heh. Wanna prove it?"

"You're on, Tortoise."

About to break in a run to race, suddenly, Riku's leg jerked back, pain prevading it. He fell to one knee, looking down to see no broken bones or torn skin, rubbing his ankle dominantly. Seeing this, Sora turned, kneeling. "You okay?" he asked, worried just as fast.

Riku nodded, "Yeah, probably just a cramp. . ." He tried to stand, but couldn't.

"What's up with your leg?" Sora asked, his anxiety rising.

"I don't know. . ."

Just then, a teardrop fell from the darkening sky, glistening under the disappearing moon. Then more and more fell by the second. It was now raining—not normally. Rain came down hard and fast as if a storm had been on for twenty or more minutes, but the rainfall just barely begun. And with each pitter of the rain timbering against the nearby dock, Riku heard soft laughter, which grew in volume with each gallon of raindrops hitting against every hard surface. Riku covered his ears, screaming just slightly.

"Riku, what's wrong?" Sora shouted over the deluge.

"Don't you hear it! Ansem is back!"

* * *

_To be continued_


	2. Curving Around the Center

_Chapter 2: Curving Around the Center_

"Riku, I don't hear anything."

Riku was sure he wasn't losing it, absloutely positive that it was Ansem trying to return.

Sora growled a little, sensing some kind of evil approaching from somewhere, but he just didn't have the idea of where or why. "There aren't any enemies, so I can't use my Keyblade," Sora explained. He hadn't used or needed it in quite some time, so it was as if it would only appear when enemies did.

Riku adjusted his blurred gaze, pushing strands of floppy, wet hair out of his eyes.

"Well, there's your enemy," Riku said sharply as his cool and the feel in his leg returned. "Look there." He pointed just up ahead, seeing a thin, shady figure that walked up to the two slowly.

The blinding rain still brought difficulty for Sora to make out who it was, but Riku was already self-assured. Out of the cloudiness stood a holographic Ansem, flashing a cunning grin just for Riku.

"We meet again, partially," he mused, crossing his arms over his chest, which fuzzed in reaction.

"Just take what you want and get out of here, Ansem!" Sora yelled, obviously not looking before he leaped.

Riku gave his friend horrified eyes as if he'd just told the enemy to take his heart and leave, which was what that unknowingly meant. "Sora. . ." Riku muttered with a shaky voice.

"Riku, you simply have not listened to me," Ansem said. Riku narrowed his aqua eyes. "You and I are both aware that a fight is useless. So instead, I'll make it easier and get closer to your heart like _this_. . ."

Parts of the very ground in front of Riku and Sora melted in darkness, and slowly out of it came a shiny black. . .stick? No, it was thicker than that—in a perspective. The thing turned to its front and it was an pasty black sword. The weeping ink was penetrated into the ground and was washed away by the rain. Out of the omnipresent ink pool ascended what look like the sword's master—black of the same substance, with speckled yellow eyes.

"Is that a Heartless?" Sora asked.

"That question was a tad obvious," Ansem said haughtily. "This is not a Heartless, but a puppet I commanded to rise from the darkness. It is a prototype, however, only used to fulfill its deed, since I can't get to you on my own."

"Then I'll take this thing down!" Riku yelled, then shouted better, "And beside that, _leave_ my heart!"

Ansem laughed. "I will not follow your request, boy. Instead," he turned to the ink-covered figurine, "go forth, Oblivious Darkness! Make his heart odor in your substance!"

Oblivious Darkness took his sword and charged obediently, elevated only inches off the ground so it looked to be a black ghost. Riku and Sora brought forth their weapons. Riku went first, jumping and striking his dark Keyblade at a blind spot behind its head, but Riku, out of the corner of his eye, saw a slit appear at the neck, but it sealed back up easily and the monster still advanced forward, now for Sora, who struck though its center after dodging a sword strike; but his attack went through. Sora landed to his feet, pushed forward and struck again. Uselessly.

Oblivious Darkness also attacked, slashing its sword wildly ahead. Sora stepped back a bit too late and it grazed his shoulder, and he growled at the pain, squeezing his eyes shut, clutching at his ripped sleeve, his blood becoming watery in his palm and slowly washing away by the rain. Riku sent an array of darkness out with his dark soul eater, which worked better than Sora's, taking effect and making the monster spin out in pain.

Darkness was its weakness.

"Sora, leave this to me!" Riku called over his shoulder, pushing sopping silver threads from his eyelids.

Riku turned around to see Oblivious Darkness not near him now. . .

"S-Sora. . .?"

Oblivious Darkness held out its ebony hand. Sora, now alert, looked up suspiciously, then, too late to break away, a mighty gust of air shot him well out of the way—all Riku saw was a small plung into the ocean yards away.

"Sora!" Riku called.

Within a perimeter of distraction, Oblivious Darkness easily fulfilled its purpose: first molding its sword into a coiling whip, binding it around Riku's neck. Losing air tenfold, Riku collapsed to his knees, gripping the strange thing that felt and smelled like vine dipped in kerosene. The monster then took its other hand, absorbing small samples of something light and, Riku smelled, a little ivy-like in scent, into its fingers. Nonchalant to know what it was, its fingers were thrusted through the nape of Riku's neck, leaving small pits as it ripped its thorny fingers from him, pulling out bits of blood. Ansem could only watch, well pleased at his puppet fulfilled its duty.

Riku felt his skin stiffen, clawing his nails into the sand and scrapping its tender surface. His breath grew labored, his vision whitened, his chest throbbed. He felt something swirl throughout his blood, something he didn't know, something that felt deadly. His heart seemed to absorb the strange substance with each beat- each beat getting slower. . .

He wished he was more than able to break some lightbulbs over that stupid silence that rendered over the monster, having an even greater desire to do the same to Ansem, who smirked and shimmered slowly into disappearance. Oblivious Darkness sank to the ground, melting in darkness cradled away by the gently-lapping waves.

The rain stopped quicker than deemed possible.

"Riku!" the Keyblade master bellowed from afar.

Sora, who looked liked he'd been thrown into a pool, dragged his sopping body out of the water, his clothes making floppy, squishy noises as he rushed over to his pale-faced best friend. Riku blinked, saw his friend what of he could through the blur and smiled a bit as he took his friend's assisting, wet hand.

"How's your shoulder?" Riku muttered.

Sora flexed it a little. "Wow, it...feels better."

Riku nodded, not wanting to say anymore.

At first, Riku felt like the sun losing its light. That altered into a feeling of his face turning the color of a lime, feeling sick to his stomach as he clutched it and, doubling over to a secluded area, threw up. Riku had a pained face as Sora crouched down to where the sick boy lingered.

"You. . .okay?" Sora asked, concerned, although disgusted.

Riku coughed, wiping his mouth, nodding grimly. He coughed a few more times before finding his voice to say lowly, "Ansem's a dumbass. If he thinks making me puke is gonna kill me, then he's. . ."

"A dumbass?" Sora milled.

"Y-." Riku jerked his head and threw up a little less than before. ". . .Yeah. . ."

"Think you'll live?"

"Don't be stupid." He rose to his wobbling feet at a turtle's speed. "Let's get outta here."

Sora put his arm over Riku's shoulder and supported him to Sora's boat. "Just row slowly," Riku ordered lightly. Sora nodded reluctantly, because now it would take more time to get across.

It was quiet for the first few strokes, but as Riku looked at the waves, he grew very woozy, clamping a hand to his mouth. He reluctantly gulped the bile that halfway filled his mouth and shot a glance at the unaware Sora, nearly yelling, "Say something."

"Wha. . ." Sora looked up. "Why?"

"If we engage a conversation, I won't be wanting to vomit-tize your boat."

Sora laughed a bit. "Okay, well . . .I'll call Kairi and we'll all meet up so we can take care of you."

"Oh, now I'm a patient? Never thought you were so caring." Riku said, spreading a seed of sarcasm.

"Hey, you're sick, aren't you?" Sora implied. "I'm going to look after you."

"Kairi, too. I thought that was what you said."

"It was. . .H-Her, too."

Riku gave him a short glance, feeling a little. . .kiddish. Because of the fact that his friend a year younger was taking care of him, Riku felt like they were switching ages. Painting the irony in his mind, he looked through Sora, concerning the fact that Riku usually "looked after" Sora in their past years of friendship. But to Riku, was this whole sense of hospitality a work of a friend, considering Sora's. . .connection, so to speak, with Kairi? Shrugging it off, he sighed, babbling something random to himself just to keep "someone" talking, with the idea that he'd puke unless he didn't.

"Riku, you're stupid," Sora barely whispered.

"What makes you so sure. . ." Riku tried.

"Your theory of starting a conversation. Don't you realize that you're the one dropping the calls on everyone? You used to say you're much more talkative than me, but look at you now."

"Heh. Guess the tables turned on me, then, huh?" A grin slowly curved over Riku's lips.

"I guess so. . ."

His grin broke into a smile for a few moments as he chuckled.

"I guess I owe you one," Riku assured cautiously.

Sora smiled widely. "Extra holiday presents? Sweet!"

Riku shook his head amusingly. "Some random crap you always say ends up being amusing, in a correlation."

"To what?"

"Whatever it is in that brain of yours wants it to."

"But it often _doesn't_ amuse you. Like, if I were to say that red was your favorite color, you'd give me. . ." He studied Riku's face, "that look you're giving me now."

And that was a face with raised eyebrows, a creased frown, and eyes that sliced yours out of their sockets. "You get my point? Now the babbling bullcrap you say doesn't apply to anyone but yourself." He rested a fist under his chin, now studying Sora's face. "And the whole millenium knows red is not my favorite color."

"A-ha, see? This _can_ apply to you, not just me."

"Moron. I'm just sayin'. . ."

"Whatever, Riku." Sora paid back attention to slow-rowing, Riku not realizing at all that during that conversation he was rowing at a normal speed. However somehow, he still had a small smile over his lips as he said, "Forget it—this is stupid."

Riku blinked into a small glare. "Hold on, I wasn't-."

"Riku." Sora was trying to hold back a snicker. "You can shut up now."

Vigorously, Riku abled himself to do what Sora asked and, although very reluctant, opened up a smile to him. In the oddest ways, this was making Riku begin to feel better already.

Landfall was easily in sight after a twelve-hour-like ride. Extending a hand, Sora's touched the dock, allowing the little boat to wobble until it stopped moving. He looked over his shoulder to the silver-haired boy who had slept for the rest of the ride. As Sora lobbately climbled over the seats of the boat, he paused a moment. If all went still except for these two, Sora could swear heard Riku's grizzling snore beneath his lips. His fist was still the little pin-cushion under his chin, a light entity of warmth seen through his closed eyes, a few lashes lightly brushed in his thumb.

In a friendly kind of way, this was funny to Sora, in the form of which a picture of this could be flying about the Internet in one second. Almost regrettable that this content Riku could go back into a sickly, irritated mood again, Sora used his thumb to slowly pry open his friend's eye, wanting to see some life open to him. Riku's large aquamarine orb jiggled warily, looking about to see beyond the blurriness. "You awake yet?" the brunette asked, hopeful for a seemingly hale friend. Jerking back his eye, Riku glared at Sora, odiously slapping him upside the head. "I'm breathing, aren't I?" Riku grumbled, lying selfishly to say that he felt like a million munny, but really felt bankrupt. "I don't need your help getting out."

Riku isolatedly stepped out the boat, but his feet trembled as they hit against the shore and, about to stumble, Sora slid under his arm and helped him to touch the ground. Riku again took lightly of this hospitality, rendering a vain uproar of it not being needed, which Sora gladly ignored. Finding Riku's house, Sora helped him in, seating him in a casual position on the couch.

"Did it just get hot in here?" Riku asked once ajusting to the light Sora turned on in the living room.

"No," Sora answered, checking the house temperature. "The A/C is on."

A sigh weighed over Riku's lips, forcing him to say nothing else. His forehead was sweating lightly; he smoothed a hand along it to get rid of it. As Riku looked up, Sora came back with a glass of water and dampened cloth, handing both to Riku. Riku sat back, tilting his head up to relieve it on the arm-rest, setting the cool towelette over his forehead, and drank a little water. Sora waited a few minutes to allow Riku to ajust and chill. When that was present and accounted for, he said, "Kairi's on her way. . ." for he'd called her minutes ago.

Riku oppressedly mustered, "And you said that for my health, not yours?"

"Of course, Riku." Sora felt a slight pang of hurt in Riku's stare.

". . .I. . .just hope I get better. . ." he muttered shyly.

What else could Riku say besides that? He averted his eyes to his hands that stood still in his lap. Riku adjusted his seating a bit, lifting his legs and converging them, his head now against the back of the couch, hands against the arm-rest and his lap.

"I'm sure Kairi will do that for you," Sora answered, hiding a grin beneath his hand. "I'm _sure_ she will. . ."

Riku blushed just slightly, taking a throw-pillow and, well, _throwing _it near Sora's face. Sora caught the pillow, close to laughing at his embarrassed friend, and set it beside him. Riku now gave his friend an humiliated glare.

"What makes you always so certain that I-."

"It's like a stain that won't wash out of your shirt, Riku," Sora interrupted. "It's no secret anyway. Besides, you always blush when I bring it up."

"You're speaking too highly of this. If you can see it through me, fine, but keep in mind you'll take it the wrong way someday."

"Okay, let's put it this way. . .If you like Kairi, tell her how you feel and-."

"There's no point!" It was his turn to interrupt. "Because then she'll be flattered and speak nothing more of it. Or she'll probrably kick my groin."

Sora laughed and then said, "But, Riku, it's better that she knows instead of you hiding it."

Riku changed the subject by saying, "Is this because you don't love Kairi? Is that why you want me to tell her?"

"No, Riku! I love Kairi with every bit of my heart. It's just that I want you to lift that doubtful burden off your back. Who cares what her reaction is; just get it all off your chest. It's kind of annoying me."

Riku sighed before answering, "Okay, if I do, will you stop persisting me with it?"

"Yeah."

"And are you positive this won't make Kairi fall into my arms?"

"Not unless I were dead."

Riku chuckled. "Okay, then. But like you, I'm going to wait."

As if all in one second, a drum solo nearly made the door come flying off its hinges. Sora and Riku shot puzzled glances at each other, wondering who was it there with a customized knocking.

"It's open," called Riku slowly, a surge of precaution in his voice, giving another glance at his caramel-haired friend. In a lick, the door flew open, and Kairi, who, as if Sora wasn't in the room at all, rushed over to Riku immediately and threw her arms over him. Riku staggered, his legs moving about awkwardly, the sudden loss of breathing space growing uncomfortable. Riku would've backed her up from him, but her muffled cries stopped him. Sympathy dug into his heart as she gently let her tears roll down his jacket, the warmth of her body deeply overwhelming to Riku. He only had time to wrap a hand over the small of her back before she lifted herself from him slowly. She gasped quietly, brushing away her tears with the backs of her hands, her red face returning to its normal color.

"You're alive, Riku," Kairi muttered, an mixture of relief and angst held beyond her.

"Yeah, I'm just fine. Um. . ." He couldn't even allow himself to say her name.

"When Sora told me what happened, I fell into a complete shock. . ."

"Wait, what_ did_ Sora tell you?" He shot a glance at his extravagant-spoken friend, who tried to look innocent.

"Sora told me you were nearly killed," Kairi mustered, her sides still heaving.

"Any mentioning of blood?" he ensured.

"N-No."

"Then you shouldn't have worried her head like that, Sora!" Riku stood up, facing the brunette accusingly.

Kairi looked up to the two arguing, Sora retorting, "That was true, wasn't it?"

"That was the_ plan_, but it's not like you saw what happened."

"What really happened to you then, Riku? Since I was too busy taking a swim," he grumbled sarcastically.

Riku waved his hand dismissively. "Just drop it. It doesn't matter what happened, just that I'm breathing."

"You could be breathing and feel like you been stabbed in the head," Sora mumbled quieter, making a point that Riku was too ignorant to listen to.

"Shut _up_, Sora!" Riku sighed odiously, taking a hard seat back on the couch. "Damn, you're annoying."

"Oh," Sora shouted, "so you think-."

"Take a chill pill, both of you," Kairi ordered mockingly, the two boys both knowing that Kairi had redeemed herself and immediately stopped their bickering.

Turning to Riku, who didn't turn to face her until she said his name, she asked, "What's bothering you now, Riku?"

A few silver bangs fell down over his eyes as he looked down at her. "I could guess. . ." Riku touched his forehead, "I just feel a little warm, the pain in my gut's slowly coming down, and suddenly now," he scratched the back of his neck irritantly. "the back of my neck itches."

"Hmm. Weird sympthoms, but it doesn't seem like you're coming down with anything." She locked eyes with him. "Then again, are you catching a fever? You're face is pretty bloodshot."

It was obvious that when Kairi's cobalt eyes stared into his aquamarine's, he'd blushed. "No, um. . .probrably just the house's heat," Riku replied stupidly.

"But the A/C is on," Kairi mentioned.

Sora shot Riku a smarty-pants look. Riku shook his head, sctratching at the nape of his neck again. It began to hurt like fire to scratch it, so Riku closed his hands behind his head, probrably a mistake—attempting to cheat himself and keep scratching; even so, it felt like thistles were poking his neck when he wasn't.

_'These two are complicated,' _Riku thought no-nonsense-like.

* * *

_To be continued_


	3. Dark, Iced, Nice Eyes

_Chapter 3: Dark, Iced, Nice Eyes_

After about two hours, the punishment of staying out in the rain began to kick in on Sora and Riku. They had to wrap themselves in thermal blankets to keep from coughing as they watched a movie Kairi hadn't seen before and, to Riku's luck (his distaste for romantic flicks), it was almost over. Strangely, whenever Sora would cough, Riku's sounded worse, like he'd been bitten by a bug from being out in the rain.

"Are you," Sora coughed, "okay, Riku?"

"I don't know," he replied candidly, burrying his face into the thick blue cotton and coughing loud and deep.

Kairi clicked off the T.V., hearing this. "Riku, you sound terrible. . ."

"You don't gotta sugar-coat your sympathy over me," Riku mused, his face warming. To avoid eye contact with her, he occpupied his embarrassment by scratching at his neck once more. "It's like you're spoiling me," he continued grudgingly, "and it's pretty stupid. And like I said, just because I feel bad doesn't mean your soft spot has to show so much." Riku was implying this to Kairi, who took it in as she tried to meet his downcast eyes. She then drew her gaze back as he looked up, now aware of what would happen if their gazes met. Kairi was still beginning to be genned-up about what Riku's illness could be, but it was all the same confusing. She glanced at Sora, who also looked questionable to Riku's condition.

What mattering could there be in a sickness—such as the peculiar kind Riku could have? '_The benefactor is that my lungs inhale the sweet air and my eyes can still see the greens of the earth_,' Riku thought matter-of-factly. He burried his head in his arm and tried to minimize the volume of another raspy cough. Then he kept coughing, making a more sickly uproar. Sora handed Riku his glass of water beside him, Riku quaffing it carelessly, slamming the cup down once finished, but his hacking coughs continued; it sounded like something was caught in his throat as he did. Sora tossed his blanket aside, taking a nearby trash can in case Riku were to puke again, and just the sight of a trash can made his stomach turn tremendously. He had puked again, but as he wiped his mouth, an extremely dark stain remained. Sora and Kairi at first paid no attention, Sora setting the disposal aside and Kairi rubbing Riku's back, until they saw his distinct facial conversion from confused to fearful.

"I-Is that. . ." it almost hurt Sora to continue, "blood, Riku?"

Riku lifted his hand to his nose, gave a brief sniff, and just as quickly put it down. "That, and something else," he answered in a whisper-toned voice, for his throat felt like he was choking on spiders.

"What _else_?" Kairi asked, her eyebrow furrowing.

His scratching resumed, and he gave a puzzled shake of his head.

"And don't keep picking at your neck," she ordered, going behind Riku to inspect the rash.

When she saw, the gasp she dispursed make Riku and Sora fall silent.

After brushing hair from the rash to the sides of Riku's neck, Kairi imagined this wound as being the most incurable. Five punctured sores were in the rich, deep color of Riku's coughed-out blood. They were so deep—Kairi thought—as if you could look inside one and see an artery or some other vital organ; they were in between a few veins on Riku's neck, making this more unsightly. A steel-grey crust-like film covered sections of these holes, the rest of it barely oozing in white down his neck like a river of fresh snow. Roused in a picturing of death, Kairi's face shot pale.

"Sora. . ." she was close to horrifically shouting, "school question: if a substance comes in a steel grey, crystal-like solid and ozzing white liqiud, what's that called?"

"I dunno. . .chemistry's not my best-."

"Just _think_! If you really don't know, look at Riku's neck and maybe it'll click to you."

"What, what's wrong with my neck. . ." Riku was consumed in the belly of fret.

"Shh, Riku, we'll know in a matter of thinking," Kairi said, attempting to comfort Riku of all worry.

"Hmmm," Sora began, tapping his chin, "isn't it iron?"

"No, iron is safe. _This _doesn't look to be too friendly."

"Ok, titanium?"

"Sora-."

"Oh, no, I think I know: vanadium!"

"Sora! Enough with metals! Think: this looks poisonous."

"Poisonous!" Riku repeated, not turning his head from Kairi's restriction, eyes wide in panic.

"Riku, calm down. I don't know if it is or not. But do you know what poison smells like?"

"If I did, would I've _shouted_?" He crossed his arms, beginning to feel feverish inside and out.

"Okay," Kairi said inspectively, turning back to Sora, "You said vanadium, right? That is poisonous, greyish-white, but I don't think it's _that_."

"We'll never find out what it is if we just keep playing Twenty-Q."

"Maybe, but we have to try. Riku, what do you. . ."

Riku coughed in his hands, more of the dark blood releasing, turning his head before concluding, "Both of you quit this stupidity. Just call 9-." Then he coughed some more, trying to continue, but only mustered saying 'nine' so he couldn't finish. He waved his hand towards the phone, coughing, wiping the blood from his hands when Sora handed him another moist towel, Kairi picking up the phone and dialing 9-cough-cough—obviously referring to 9-1-1.

". . .Okay, we can wait ten minutes," Kairi concluded, then hung up the cordless phone. She sighed, sitting back beside Riku, hands in her head, which barely muffled her loud sniffles. Not only was she stressed but worried, that deathly picture painting back into her mind.

"My guess is that an ambulance is coming in ten minutes," Sora said for Kairi, trying to sound glad but was badly misleading that.

"I've never had to call an ambulance before, not since I overheard a call like that before my mom died," Kairi sobbed. She replaced every hazy, bits-and-pieces-like image of her mother with Riku, making a silent effort in saying that Riku's last days on earth would be now.

"Don't speak like that," Riku convinced calmly. "I won't leave you. . ."

Kairi looked up at Riku with wet eyes. Surprised at his words, he looked away, also aware that he still hadn't said her name in quite some time.

Staying content was hard, but Kairi nodded briskly, muffling out the last of her sniffles. Riku's coughs froze mellowly, giving him chances of breath and composure, but he didn't entirely feel better. His head hammered harshly. Inside, his chest felt both hollow and tingly, his body numbing, and his neck was irritated.

With time, the red, rotating lights signified rescue, and Riku, Kairi and Sora met the paramedics outside. The red light was almost blinding considering the dark shade of coal-sapphire in the wintry sky. Kairi took time to explain the problem firsthand, Riku and Sora sitting somberly on the front stoop.

"Never thought I'd say this," Riku sighed, turning to his friend, "but. . .Nice knowing ya, Sora."

Sora glared at him. "Just shut up right now. I can't listen to you give up on yourself, Riku! You. . .you won't. . ." His voice shook at the trail-off, he shut his eyes, and turned his head so Riku couldn't see him crying. But Riku knew too much about Sora to let that slide.

"I know, it hurts me, too."

Turning back slowly at that vague sentence, Sora managed, sniffling, "Does it?"

"Yeah. . .but. . .it would be nice knowing that I could make out a poison alive, if that's really the problem."

Wiping his eyes and grinning just a little, Sora replied, "If you do, you owe me."

Cocking an eyebrow, Riku slightly chuckled. "And what makes you think so?"

"If you put me through blood, sweat and tears just for you to check out early, then. . ."

"Then," he mimicked, "what?"

"Then you have to buy Kairi an expensive gift, one fifty munny or more," he challenged.

"I just might accept." He held out his hand for his friend to shake, and the bet was sealed.

Kairi came back a moment after, saying to them both, "Okay, we're ready."

Sora helped Riku up and three-legged-ly helped him inside the back of the ambulance. Riku had a large blue duffel bag filled with provisions he though would be necessary: a few extra pairs of clothes, of course; a toothbrush, occupational time-passers (MP3, favorite book, crossword packet, etc.) surprisingly his notebook of school notes (for he had a paper due Monday and was gladly about to start it) and a few other things.

As they were inside, a pretty nurse as kindly as she could told them, "We're sorry, we only have enough room left in here to keep the patient and only one of you."

"_The patient_ has a name," Riku said rather rudely.

"We're sorry," Kairi said in response to the clutter and Riku's remark. She tugged Sora by the arm. "One moment, please."

Stepping off of the threshold and advancing to the side of the ambulance, Kairi let go of Sora's sleeve. "This is amusing," Sora began with grumbling sarcasm.

"I know," Kairi agreed. "We both want to tend for Riku, but. . ."

Sora sighed a bit, then turned to his girl. "If anyone should go, it should be you." He smiled warmly.

She looked up. "Why, Sora?"

"It's like I said: he'll listen to you. Besides, gawkers might take it the wrong way with me and Riku if I were to go. . ."

She giggled, then ensured, "You won't regret being left behind?"

"Nope. I'll pay Riku visits. . .but I can't this week."

"Oh, right, stupid school. . ."

"Yeah, real busy. But drop me a line if—I mean, _when_—Riku comes through."

Kairi nodded, giving Sora a quick farewell kiss. Waving as the ambulance drove by, disappearing slowly, with all of Sora's heart, he said lightly, "Good luck, Riku."

* * *

In what Kairi ever so wished were short moments, Riku was taken in, checked by a series of doctors and finally taken into Room 308. As Kairi was allowed in, feeling frantic, she was glad to see Riku seemingly okay—sleeping—dressed in a white hospital gown with—funny to mention—bubbles on it, and when Kairi humorously asked, the same beautiful nurse that attended them before replied, smiling, "It was the only one left that could fit him."

The room was actual pretty nice, livable, even. The room wasn't endowed with white but showered in other fancies: a rich sky blue color on the walls; sleek white curtains over a tall, elevated window; a shiny silver marble-tiled floor; nice, bright, ajustable cellophane lights, and noticably wide T.V., and other medical things surrounding it in a little workspace that was clearly out of a patient's way. When she saw a door adjacent to Riku's bedside, it was a nearby bathroom with some of the same room features. It had a shower, even. Convenient!

With more smiles, Kairi looked over to how comfortable Riku looked with the pillows propped up, his head back against it securely. She then noticed a strange white bangle around his neck, one like she wore when she was fourteen. Kairi asked about it, not getting the answer she hoped to be so pleasant:

"The substance around his neck was arsenic, which burried deep into the wounds on it, deeper than ever. The arsenic rapidly spread throughout his blood, and it's been unable to escape. That bangle around his neck is trying to remove what it can from his neck, but it's not working that well. What's worse: there is an extremely heavy block of arsenic within his heart, and his heart litterally can't cope with it, so he's had three or so heart attacks in the past several hours. The blood that pumps through his body is constantly flowing in arsenic, which is why it appeared so dark. It's been within him for too long to solve this puzzle easily, so if we act too fast, it. . .won't turn out so well. . ."

"That's the other way around, right?" Kairi managed.

"Yes, but we are trying hard. As you estimated, Kairi, this is a poison within Riku's body, so, it's. . .harming Riku."

"And by harm, you mean it's killing Riku. . .?" Kairi kept her eyes to her feet, cold reaching her hands.

The nurse nodded.

Something sharp and pointed drilled into Kairi that stopped her from reducing her eyes to a puddle. She tried to compel herself to staying out of the shadows to shut herself from the rest of the world just to cry her eyes out. As the nurse turned to leave, Kairi randomly— somewhat pesteringly—asked what her name was, and she said it was Cara, who quietly left the room temporarily.

_'Why you?' _Kairi thought.

Like she really wanted that to be Sora right now, sleeping where he shouldn't have, being taken care of by come-and-go type of people. But still, it didn't seem fair for Riku to suffer, either. Kairi sighed within herself, declaring that she'd always feel sympathetic either way. She felt the heaviness in her steps gradually increase as she approached Riku's bedside, eyes burning insanely to tear up, but they remained bright and dry. She took hold of a nearby chair and sat down close enough so her knees touched the side of the mattress.

Reaching out a slow-moving hand, she ran it through Riku's hair. She knew Sora's hair was always soft and sleek under all those spikes, for she was a pro at touching Sora's hair more times than she should've. Riku's felt so alien compared to Sora's. It was a tad brittle, rough where she ran just one finger down, and at the very end being soft as her own. Kairi made a suggestion that this was because he hadn't treated it, but it still felt like peeling crust off bread.

Letting her hands at her sides, the only thing she wanted was for Riku to respond some kind of way, starting with awakening. She tried shaking his shoulders, yelling his name, tapping him, and a few other useless stage performances, all failing to open Riku's eyes. Her hair teased the sides of her face and as she exhaustedly set her head in her hands, she just sat quietly. That's it. Patience might allow the sleep to realize it should've ended many moments ago.

Kairi felt fingers barely flip a section of her locks and she suddenly looked up. She realized this was Riku's hand, surprised to find it cold as she tapped it in response. Riku groaned a little, eyebrows creasing and lips frowning, trying to gather words. Kairi could see a small sliver of icy blue, slowly opening to warm her. She was surprised at herself as she squeezed Riku's shaky blue fingers, grinning happily as this felt like her hand in a child's. Riku's eyelids rose fully, his eyes scanning the room idly for moments, but with a slight turn of his head, he jumped a little and felt a little warmth in his hands and—to surprise him more—the tenderness in Kairi's smile.

"Ka. . .K-Kairi. . ." He didn't care to realize he said her name just now. "You're. . ."

"Here?" she finished.

He smiled half-heartedly. "I'm glad you are." He let his hand go, sitting up and then looking back at her. "Thanks for having my back."

She nodded. He blinked, looking down for only a moment, then into her eyes, not avoiding her gaze but this time drawing himself in. He wanted to see if she was really here for him, not only because Sora told her to. But it seemed to take too much time to find the answer through her mellow cobalt eyes. Kairi too seemed to be caught in the personality in his eyes that expressed themselves in color. A darker tinge was in his eyes now as he advanced an even harder gaze, but it made his eyes dreamy to look at.

Not in that kind of way, no. . .right? Riku's eyes are distictive, but not as captivating as Sora's. So she wanted to continue thinking. On Sora.

Riku's eyes then turned the normal aquamarine as Kairi looked down shortly, then back up, her smile resuming for him.

"You doing okay?" she asked.

Averting his gaze, he replied, "Hmph. You wish. I feel all sore, especially in my chest. . ."

Kairi knew she couldn't keep the grave news from him, so she was left only to blurt it out to him. Biting her lip to see what his reaction would be, she felt astute that Riku had sighed. He was fed up with the fact that she constantly mentioned that there wasn't much that could be done to help him.

"When's the chainsaw coming?" Riku asked.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice feathery.

"To rip my _heart_ out!" he shouted. She jumped a little at his response and lowered her eyes. His eyes followed her downcast gaze. "I can't. . ._live_ with a heart endowed with poison! I can't handle it! Everyone, especially you, knows that." He roughly combed a hand through his hair, his voice shaking, "I just don't want to die from something as failing as healing poison throughout me. I'd lose everything." They looked up at each other. "Including you."

Kairi drew back a gasp, flushing a light pink. What was he saying: that she was an important addition to his life? That would never come directly from Riku, unless it was implied.

"Riku. . ." was all she whispered, her fingers barely in contact with her lower lip.

Riku then did something that surprised Kairi. He laughed lightly, smiling falsely at her. "What am I saying?" he seemed to be asking himself. "I'm nearly sweet-talking you right into my arms. I wouldn't steal you from Sora. . .Just. . .forget what I just said."

_'Steal me?' _Kairi thought cautiously, turning that thought away as she said curled her hands in her lap. She almost cried. Her feelings were threading in a spool she couldn't loosen, her emotions tangling—this made her constantly think of negativity and despair of what went on... She had this feeling seldom with Sora, and now she was thinking about him, hurtingly trying to erase them and focus back on Riku. She was even choosy with her words: "I don't have to forget. I don't want to. I. . .don't. . ." She sighed, "I never want to lose you either, Riku. You're my best friend."

After a quick silence, he mumbled somewhat reluctantly, "You are, too."

_'But just for one day, a week, maybe; can't we be something more than just best friends, Kairi?'_

* * *

_To be continued_


	4. Folding in Two

_Chapter 4: Folding In Two_

How many feet high did silence fall from? Tens of thousands, most likely, for it befell the two for due time. Riku commanded his eyes not to look at Kairi, instead, putting them on an off flat-screen T.V.

But eventually a voice found land when Kairi asked, "How long do you think it'll be?"

In response to how vague that sentence was, it was obvious Riku turned to her and answered, "Huh?"

She had a slight cheerfulness in her voice as she continued, "Till you check out? How long do you think?"

"Ah," he paused, sitting up, "maybe two weeks tops."

Kairi smiled a bit uneasily. "You think so. . .?" she asked doubtfully.

"What, you don't?"

"I didn't say that-."

"But I know that's what you were thinking." He tried to liven his sullen, breezed laugh. "What would _you_ say to that, then?"

Kairi's eyes fell as she blushed, hoping Riku couldn't see it. "Just, longer."

Riku sighed and hardened his look upon her, urging her to specify.

"Maybe a month or so," she responded candily, trying to calm her trembling hands.

"Or so?" He managed a small smile.

"A month and two days, okay?" she yelled, thoroughly embarrassed. "My lord."

Apparently she hadn't seen his smile. "I was just kidding," he said, resuming to a frown. "Damn, Kairi. You take everything so huge, like it's such a big deal! Chill out."

Kairi sighed, an apology already at hand. "I'm sorry," she said half-heartedly, half meaning it.

"For?" Riku urged.

Kairi looked up, her eyebrow raising. "Exaggerating?"

Riku raised his hands innocently. "You got me."

So then the night went by and by as Kairi chatted and Riku exaggerated. It flooded the silence that had already passed them, and next to that, it felt good.

"How long has it been?" Riku asked, head wandering about in search of a clock.

Kairi pulled out her cell phone and answered, "Almost five hours."

"Since you've been here?"

"Yeah. It's fine."

"Really?" He studied her eyes. "You look tired."

"I'm not," she complained, turning away, smiling just a little.

"Really." He inched closer to the edge of the bed, closer to her. He took his finger and, holding it out like a pointer, waved it consecutively in front of her eyes. He changed the tone in his voice to a vampire-like. "You are getting _very_ sleepy. . ."

Kairi giggled, gently pushing his finger away. "Okay, I am a little."

"Then, why don't you go home?"

"Why, are you sending me away?"

"No, don't you want to go?"

Before she could answer, a light knocking was at the door and in the same second it opened, and there was Cara with a clipboard. "Oh, hello again, Kairi. Riku, how are you doing?"

"Getting better," Riku answered, trying to sound formal in front of this seemingly middle-aged woman.

"Okay, then, we'll have to begin to run some tests, so more doctors will need you urgently. . ." She seemed to be jotting something down on her clipboard, then looked up at Kairi with a sincere smile. "Kairi, why don't you go home," she suggested politely.

"But I don't want to. . ." she pouted candidly, standing in protest.

Riku, feeling both flustered and flattered that she actually didn't want to leave, told her, "I think you should Kairi. You can always come back."

Kairi turned to him, then back to Cara. "Okay, then." Looking back at Riku, she waved good-bye, then, about to leave, turned back, asking, "What time do you want me to come over again?"

"Um, I don't-."

"2:30?"

"S-Sure. . ."

"Okay! See you. . .Sunday, 2:30, 'kay?"

"Yeah, okay."

Making a final good-bye, it was actually hard for Riku to let Kairi go.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kairi called Sora in hopes to get a ride, but his line was busy. Slightly puzzled, she let it go and called for a cab, which drove her most of the way home (as Kairi insisted being let off a few yards from home). Inside of her house, she managed to get upstairs and take a shower, put on a red silk nightgown, and was about to trot upstairs for bed, but she heard the doorbell ring. Answering it and letting sharp cold run up her legs, she smiled when she saw Sora, dressed in a black tee and sweatpants, his same black-and-red shoes and holding a black long-sleeve jacket. She was a tad surprised to see him dressed so cooly on an upcoming winter, but she smiled nonetheless. "Isn't it kinda late, Sora?" she asked, sampling for his smooth response, which was: "How late is late?"

Giggling, she let him in. The cozy atmostphere of candles being the only light in the house was just right. The first thing they did was fall onto the sofa, Sora on top and Kairi on bottom, and made out. They massaged each others' bodies and collided tongues. Warm breaths inches away, they broke off shortly and were back again gluing their lips together. It was all delicious comfort.

Kairi broke away, her breath still close to him, and asked hotly, "Where have you been, babe?"

"Over at Naminé's," he answered, about to kiss her again, but she pursed her lips.

"Why _her? _What were you-."

"_Relax_, Kai. I was just there so she could help me with a report I uh. . .took the last minute to do. . ."

"But why-."

"Naminé already did it, and she's just as smart as you. It's _fine_, calm down."

". . .You don't see anything in her?"

"Why would I? You're sexier."

She grinned. "So are you."

"Compared to who?"

"Nobody."

"Roxas?"

Kairi giggled. "I meant no _one_," she corrected. "Now shut up for. . .five minutes. . ."

And that's how long they were kissing for. During this, Sora had removed his shirt, tossing it behind him, Kairi feeling that as just a part of it as they continued. But then Sora put his fingers of one hand against her frontal cleavage and the other on the shoulder strap, slowly easing it down. That's when Kairi's eyes snapped open and she slightly pushed him enough to be off from atop of her.

"What was that?" she demanded.

Sora switched gazes between her angered eyes and his hands. "I-I. . .I thought. . ."

"We were going to have _sex?"_

"I'm sorry, I was thinking way too fast. Good thing you stopped me." He tried to smile in a relieved way.

Her eyes narrowed. "This isn't funny, Sora. Slow it down; we've been together for almost three years. No need to blow it senseless now."

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, craddling her head in his hand and kissing her forehead.

"I forgive you."

She hugged him tenderly, resting her head in his neck. Sora sighed into the top of her head in an ashamed way, closing his eyes.

"Think I should go?" He stepped back from her, leaning over to grab his shirt.

"I didn't say you had-."

"But I am." He pulled his shirt on, kissed her cheeks softly before exiting, calling, "Good night, Kai."

Although she wasn't smiling, she said sweetly, "Love you."

"Love you, too."

Kairi sighed as her hair fell across her cheek after he'd closed the door. That was the first time Sora had been _that_ close to her, attemtpting to do more than he should've. Why would he've decided to go that far now? And why had he been at Naminé's house and not anyone else's, let alone _just now_ telling Kairi? She wasn't suspecting that he was doing anything rash, so she hastily let it go and went straight to bed.

After spending Saturday doing early Christmas shopping, she took Sunday off work beforehand and was headed off to revisit Riku. Entering quietly, she pouted in his direction to find him sleeping again, but stopped as she found out the reasons why. Cara was there and explained what happened: that there were tubes attatched to his arms and legs and chest that were trying to remove the arsenic, and it was "hopefully"—the results were slim—working. The puncture wounds in the back of his neck were swelling a bit and were oozing less poisonous liquids and blood than before, the tubes trying to also stop it. They didn't need to be on him all day or all the time, thankfully, and Cara told Kairi that Riku was allowed to take them off when he woke up. (Great, more waiting)

But he looked _a lot_ paler than normal, almost white. . .and he was breathing pretty raggedly. . .but Kairi stayed confident nonetheless.

"I'll watch after him," Kairi promised.

"Okay, Kairi. I'll be back soon to check on him." And once again, she left.

The slight tick of the closed door seemed enough to pry Riku's eyes open. He sat up and looked around, then saw Kairi, who hadn't noticed him until he said, "Looks like you kept your word."

Kairi turned to him and smiled. "I'm glad to see you're awake."

"And I'm glad to see you here right on time." He looked at the newly-installed digital clock beside him that read 2:29 P.M.

"I promised, didn't I?"

Riku rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb, humming a short moan. "I guess you did," he mumbled tiredly.

"Sleepy?" she asked, her stomach dropping.

"No, just dreampt badly," he admitted, ventilating away. "It was about Ansem. He explained to me that the poisoning wasn't on purpose. He's doing it to get my heart. And I sure as hell _still_ don't know what he wants with it. But, he said it was poisoning him as well, thankfully. He doesn't care, though; he still thinks he can beat me at his own game. But somehow, I'll get him. My heart isn't going anywhere."

Kairi smiled at how considerably hefty Riku assumed his heart was, even with the battle through the darkness. She looked at him with pleasure gleaming in her eyes, and Riku looked at them as to why.

"What?" he demanded.

Kairi shrugged. "I like your confidence."

"And I like you." In immediate assumption to her confused look and his just-spoken words, he stuttered, flushing deeply, "F-For helping me, I like that about you."

Kairi must've took the second sentence to hearing, for she nodded and said, "I'm glad I could help."

_'Dumbass, you nearly blew it!' _Riku thought angirly. '_How is a hospital the best place, yet alone atmostphere to tell Kairi how I feel?' _He sighed inwardly and thought, '_What could she really see in me anyway? She's already thought so fondly of Sora. I gotta try to convince her otherwise. . .'_

"Kairi," Riku began.

She looked zoned out as she was staring up into the ceiling. He said her name louder and she finally gave a sudden turn of her head.

"Hmm?" she replied.

"I was saying. . ." He then asked instead, "What's wrong?"

"I was. . . thinking about Sora."

Riku sighed in annoyance. "Of course you were."

She shot him an accusing glare. "Not in that way, Riku." She tried to tame her lump of anger that molded into her throat. "It was something that happened last night."

"Lemme guess, he tried to move _in_ on you."

"Not _that_ in, but close. I stopped him." She tried to hold back her rising blush.

Riku shook his head. "That sweet-talking moron."

She frowned a little, eyes timid. "Don't say that. . ."

It was his turn to shoot a glare. "What, now I gotta side with him?"

She gasped a little. "No, but I. . . "

"And to think I was trying to protect you."

"How can you?" she snapped offensively. "You're immobilized, after all. And I don't need protection from you! Sora was meant to."

Riku tried not to take in her offensive words but backed his up. "You already know he didn't. Instead, he slept for a year, and _I_ was the one who came with you most of the way afterwards, 'cause you couldn't make it alone by yourself. And look; you still can't."

Kairi looked taken aback, closing her mouth just as she opened it, about to uselessly protest. They were both silent for a few minutes.

"Are you finished?" Riku asked.

"Are _you_?" she mocked quietly, eyes delivered away from him.

Riku coughed just a few times, something he hadn't done in a while. "Just shut up, okay?"

But Kairi wouldn't. She gave him a light glare, the kind Riku had to squint to see if she really was. "Maybe you need to let off your jealousy. It's like you told me: you wished you could be like me, having someone, right?"

"You'll never understand if I tell you who."

She barely heard this as she dropped her head, sighing. She wanted to change the subject badly, so she looked up with a mellow (fake) smile, saying, "Maybe when you're up on your feet, you could come shopping with me and Sora. I haven't finished yet, and could use a hand or two." Her face grew shy, but her eyes were hopeful.

She at first thought Riku would respond quickly, but after sighing unapproachably, he looked up at Kairi with an illiterate face. "With you," he repeated, "_and _Sora? Hmph, right."

Her face fell and turned red. "What's with you?" she wanted to scream, but only lightly whispered. She rose her voice, saying, "You always get upset whenever I mention Sora."

"Who _cares _if I do?" It was his turn to shout. "Anyway, shouldn't you—I don't know—be going? You've got more important things to do than just sit by someone who's been sitting in a hard bed for—oh you know, three days only?"

Her lip trembled, cutting her words off. She pulled herself up and headed out the door, only looking back to say, "Oh, Cara told me to tell you that you could take those tubes off of you." With that, she slammed the door and left.

It didn't even matter that she'd only been there fifteen minutes.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kairi didn't retry visiting Riku—nor thought of it—until Wednesday. He had given her short-worded text messages litterally reading "I'm fine" one day and "Stop texting me" the next.

She groaned loudly and dropped her head in her arms that were crossed along the granite table, Sora setting his lunch tray down and sitting beside her.

"What's wrong, Kai?" he asked.

Kairi looked up, nodding at Sora slightly. "Riku's being all stubborn."

"Didn't you talk to him?" He chomped on his sandwhich.

"I did, but we had an argument. I haven't visited him since Sunday." She somberly sipped her juice and bit into her pizza.

Sora swallowed before saying, "You ignored him for three days? Wow, Kai."

She looked like she was being accused. "I-I tried yesterday, but he was a jerk. I was gonna go try again today, Mr. Ignorant. Anyway, how busy are you today?"

"Well, _Mr. Ignorant_ has to go to a yearbook meeting, start on today's biology report, do algerbra homework, and promised to help Naminé with her realism sketch for Drawing II."

"How many more things did you promise her?" Kairi asked harshly.

"Enough to make you drop it."

Kairi finished her lunch quickly and left the table and headed off early for her next class, Sora not following because he had much on his tray to finish. As he sat isolated for moments, it ended soon as Naminé slid her small self and her sketchpad next to Sora. She did so fast that her hip bumped against Sora's, who nearly chocked on drinking water. Roxas came slowly behind and took a seat next to Naminé.

"Hey, Nam," Sora greeted through gritted teeth, looking over across the table, waving to Roxas. "Hey, Roxas."

"Hey," Roxas greeted back.

Naminé opened a glass bottle she got from her backpack, uncapped the bottlecap, and began slugging the drink down, gripping at the bottle's neck.

"Nam. . ." Sora asked, concerned, "_what_ are you drinking?"

"Oh, you didn't know I drink?" she asked, giggling tipsily.

Sora gave a glance at Roxas, who looked just as shocked as his cousin, also not knowing she drank. Naminé continued to slug the wine down, not stopping until she licked the last drop from the brim of the bottle. She stood, reaching over to a trash can and pressed it into the bottom, making it unseen by papers and food scraps. She sat back down next to Sora, he and Roxas sidestepping nervously.

"Sora," Naminé gasped happily, still sounding high, "you ready?"

"For what?" Sora asked, unamused.

"Me to draw you! Or did you. . ." She wrapped an arm over his lower waist, ". . .want to wait?"

"Uh, just be patient," Sora replied, taking his fingers over hers and lifting them off of him. "I'll be there."

Roxas held her hand. "Naminé, turn around."

As she did, Roxas smashed his lips over hers, embracing her waist tightly. He moved his gaze over to Sora, who nodded thankfully and stood up, getting away from Naminé. Once he knew Sora was away, Roxas ended the kiss with a smile, only to have Naminé give him a why-did-you look.

"You were annoying Sora," Roxas reasoned, shrugging.

"I don't need _you _to tell me that!" she yelled, waving her arms. "I _wanted_ to be with Sora!"

"Figures," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Lately, I've already _known_ Sora was who you wanted to see."

"Oh, like you don't with Axel?"

"I-I don't!" Roxas yelled, blushing. "It's not like that!"

Naminé waved her hands in front of her face dismissively. "Then here's a memo: It's not you, it's me."

"What?" Roxas yelled confused, looking at her as she stormed off with her sketch pad.

She stopped and turned to him. "If you won't let me talk with Sora without being jealous, then I will myself! It's over, Roxas."

Scoffing as she left, Roxas yelled reluctantly, "Fine, then!" He then looked sullen as he sat back down. _'She sure was in a hurry to break up. . .Man, who needs her anyway? I've got Axel, as a _friend_. . .'_

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

Yesterday, Kairi remembered trying to sugar-coat her words to make Riku smile. It never worked. On the contrary, he had smacked her with a hateful whip of words branded 'Get out of my face!' continually until she tumbled down, bruises and scars all over her heart, and she'd bitten back her tears, dismissing herself from his neglectable, foggy presence.

Regardless of that, today, Kairi was stout, willing to give Riku a room for improvement in correcting his stingy manner. And hopefully, the reasons for being so angry were not of the same argument but instead maybe from the occasional heart attacks, sudden, unexpected high rises of blood pressure, and hot flashes (which he'd gotten for the past days she's been updated on his condition, since the arsenic inccident). And she desperately hoped he was having none of those problems today.

Kairi lifted her trembling hand and weakly pushed the door, poking her large eye into the open. Riku might've noticed, for she saw him sit up in his bed and yell towards the door, "I'm sorry, Kairi. You can come in."

"You sure?" she asked cautiously, entering anyway.

Riku grumbled, rolled his eyes, and gave a disturbed bob of his head. "I'm just. . .not feeling well," he said, as if trying to pull down the hanging emotion. "Sorry for snapping at you. . . all the days that I have."

"It's. . . it's okay."

She screeched the same nearby chair at his bedside and sat, eyes timidly facing the tile floor. It had been hard to approach him since yesterday; there should have been a change in his stature. However, she didn't dare look up at him.

Riku cleared his throat. "Thanks for coming. I. . . I'm glad you came."

She only nodded.

"Is Sora coming?" he asked slowly, randomly.

"No," she said almost too loudly, She lowered to a suitable volume. "He's still grieving about you, I guess."

"So, you haven't talked to him."

"I have, but. . . he's not listening like I want him to. I need him here."

"Hmph, figures. And I guess that's the _real_ reason you showed up, to make sure Sora arrives to your ailing, right?"

"No," she protested, "I-."

"Why don't you just leave if he's the reason you care. I don't give a-."

"Riku!" she shouted, her fist balled together in her lap. Her eyes gave a pleading sense of sincerity, only in an enraged form. She wasn't going to let Riku put her out of the house again. "That's just it, then—you want me to walk right out that door when you _know_ you can't stand but to watch me go? I can't let you do that, Riku. . .not when you absolutely need someone here beside you, to make sure you're alright. And. . . sometimes, you're too much of a dumbass to listen to me." She looked on the verge of tears, but blinked them back as she continued, "I came for _you_, Riku. I'm still worried about you, and I want to protect you."

Silence punched Riku in many places, finally letting go for him to sigh. "I should've known better than to judge your sincerity," he said. She looked up and he looked into her eyes but in the same second turned from them, staring in any downward direction he could. He lit up a little, saying, "You're amazing for that, Kairi. Th-thanks."

In absoulte delight, Kairi jumped from the chair with a huge smile on her face and hugged Riku—which felt much more real. "Anytime," she whispered in his ear as she lingered moments in that embrace. Riku felt warm with Kairi's body so close to his, a little warmer than usual. As she stepped off, Riku wiped sweat that violently formed on his forehead.

"Are you hot?" she asked.

"Yeah, obviously in more ways than one, but. . . Man, I also feel like my insides are sweating."

"I dunno what to do about that, but I can get you some water and a cold towel," she said, rushing to get those.

_'Great, the second hot flash I've witnessed since...' _she thought. '_I can't tell if it's worse or better than the last one.'_

When she arrived she handed Riku a foam cup filled with water and set a freezing towel over Riku's forehead. She leaned over him and asked after a minute, "You cooling down?"

Riku nodded, then reached out and touched her arm. "But the heat inside me must be the arsenic. I happen to feel it spreading throughout my blood. . ." He winced as his hands grew numb and his arms seemed to tinge purple.

"Well, attach the purifying tubes to you and see what that does."

As he leaned over and did so, he panted a bit exhaustedly as he asked, "Could you open the window and let some air in?"

Kairi nodded, reaching over and shoving the curtains out the way. As sunlight shimmered in like a choir of brightly-lit candles, Riku yelped slightly as the sunlight had barely touched his eyes, let alone even lighting the shadow over his bedside. Looking back with concern, Kairi put the blinds down after she opened the window, and slowly, she went back to him.

"I think you need some sunlight. You've been in here almost a week."

Riku shook his head. "The only way I could is if the arsenic level within me goes down." He lifted his arm, which showed veiny and pale. "I don't think that'll be for another good while."

_To be continued_


	5. Big Mistake

**_AN: I should warn a fair amount of cursing I added at the end.. . *oooh*_**

**_but enjoy. . ._**

_Chapter 5: Big Mistake_

Kairi stayed for hours to aid Riku, which comfortably helped with time. He had to take medicine when Cara came in, which obviously was unpleasant in taste. Kairi giggled as Riku gagged like being forced to chug down a cup of oil.

Soon Kairi began to leave—for it was almost 8 P.M.—,but Riku stopped her before she stepped out the door.

"Kairi, wait."

She turned, seeing Riku stare down at his sheets, silence arousing him. He curled his fingers into quiet fists, gulping as he gathered the words into his mind.

"Yeah, Riku?" she urged gingerly.

"Listen, I know you're taking all your time for me, and I know being away from Sora is hard. But. . . I wanted to say th-that. . ."

She silently urged him to go on by raising an eyebrow.

Sora's words swam through Riku's head: "_Who cares what her reaction is; just get it all off your chest."_

"That's not what I want her to say. . ." Riku mumbled to himself anxiously.

"Huh?" said Kairi.

Riku sighed. "Kairi . . .Why don't you take tomorrow off? You know: see Sora a bit. I'm sure he misses you." He looked up a moment, then down at his sheets again.

Kairi smiled. "What would you say if I said no?" Not letting him respond as he looked up in shock, she replied, "I don't want to take tomorrow off. Sora's fine. . . and. . ." She looked down, her smile fading, burgundy hair brushing against her cheek.

"What?" Riku asked in response to her sadness.

"Sora is. . .taking time to see other people besides me."

"Whada you. . ." he began before Kairi turned around with another smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Riku."

She shut the door, hearing him quietly saying, "See ya," then whatever else he mumbled was drowned out.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hold _still_!" yelled the blonde girl in a bubbly way as she slid her hands along Sora's knees, climbing over him to grip his shoulders and freeze him.

"I can't with you all over me!" Sora protested, pushing some hair off of his sweating forehead. "Back up a little."

"I can't. Then I can't see deep into your eyes." She cupped a small, pale hand around his cheek.

"Naminé. . ." Sora gave her a soft look.

She released her hand. "There, thank you! Now it's your turn."

"Um, are you sure it won't hurt you?"

"What?"

Sora scratched the back of his head nervously. "The way it turns out. . .I haven't done anything like this before."

"No, do it! I'll hold still this time." She closed her eyes delightfully.

_'Why am I doing this anyway?' _he thought, then asked.

"Because it'll be fun!"

A few minutes later, Sora gave up, breaking from the girl's sweating face and body, panting under the heat and pressure. "Nam, I...I told you before: I've never done this. I think I should stop."

"No, just a little more," she moaned. "Give it everything you've got! You're doing fine."

"C'mon." He stood up to emphasize his disapproval. "This looks _nothing _like you!"

(What, did you think something _else_ was going on?)

As she looked, she did admit _she _could do better than Sora had just now drawn her. He made her eyes too close together, her hair looking somewhat jacked, and her boobs way too big, but she smiled at his attempt. He put down the dull-tipped pencil and the smudged paper. "See how stupid that was!" Sora yelled, falling down onto Naminé's bed. He waved his hand along his face to fan himself. "And why does your room gotta be so freakin' hot?"

"Huh. I don't feel it," she protested.

"Hah, hah," he laughed sarcastically. "Anyway Nam, is that all you needed me here for? I mean, you could've drawn me without me being here, you know."

"I know, but. . .I wanted somebody here with me." She stood and appoached her closet. "You're right: it _is_ hot."

"Ah-hah, see?"

Sora then gasped within himself as Naminé threw down her tie from her uniform and slid off her shirt. Her back was to him, so he could see the lock and straps of her white bra cling to her flawless back as she reached inside her closet for a cooler shirt. Sora flushed insanely as he saw this—Naminé's _boldness _to undress while a boy was there, let alone _him_. She put on a thin sleeveless tee that didn't cover much but cooled her down. Sora avoided looking at her after turning so red, but as she took a generous seat next to him, he took a quick glance that turned into a gaze to look down at her frontal clevage which was as big and round as grapefruits. It was not at all bigger than Kairi's but somewhat _better_.

"What?" Naminé asked, shrugging with innocent gladness.

"Nothing," Sora replied, folding his hands behind his head.

She tugged his right arm, leaning her head on his shoulder, some of her long hair falling against it. "Sora, are you worried about Kairi?"

Confused a bit, Sora scratched the side of his face. "I dunno, should I be?"

"You haven't realized how much she misses you."

"How can you tell?" He looked at her as he pulled his arm back.

"Your eyes have shown nothing but regret. Can't you feel it? Regret for not visiting Riku. You could've posponed all of your time with me. And Kairi, too: don't you feel as if you're not as connected to her as you think?"

Sora gave her a look. "We're like feathers on a bird. We _are _connected."

"But feathers shed, Sora."

Sora shook his head. "Thanks for the advice, but I'll take my own word. Sure, Kairi misses me, but it doesn't mean we don't still love each other." He stood up from her bed, looking down at her. "I'll see you later, Naminé."

"Wait," she begged, and kissed him on the cheek just below his eye.

He looked at her in a confused, wide-eyed way as she looked ashamed, slightly turning pink.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Roxas and I, um, didn't turn out like I hoped, so I don't know what came over me when I. . ." She stepped back. "Sorry."

Sora slowly smiled. "It's okay. And I feel sorry, Nam. He seemed right for you."

She nodded a little, smiling in reassurance. "But, I wish I knew. Who's right for me now-?"

She was cut off when a pair of hands gripped her shoulders and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. It was supposed to brief (he didn't even know why he was kissing _her_), but he moved his lips around over hers, asking for a response. She did so, folding her hands over his hunched back, pulling herself up and allowing Sora to straighten up. Sora gasped inside her mouth when her tongue crossed his teeth and he broke away swiftly.

Sora then backed up from her, looking down at his hands as if ashamed of himself, and waved a weak good-bye, leaving. But Naminé couldn't help but smile deviously, feeling as though she was the one wearing the pants in her now-new relationship.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Kairi couldn't leave Riku without knowing what he _really _wanted to say, knowing he was hiding it. So, she turned back and slowly opened the door to his room. She sighed before entering, suggesting that he would stutter over his words or be sleeping, but she did so anyway.

"Riku?" her voice hummed through the door.

Surprised to see him alert, he replied, "Yeah? Back so soon?" He smiled brightly, secretly glad to see her present again.

"I. . ." She knew she couldn't wipe that nice look off his face. "I just wanted. . .to say that. . .Tomorrow, maybe, I'll do the best I can to get Sora to come."

"Is—that all?" he asked, frowning just a bit.

Kairi slowly nodded. "Uh-huh, yeah." With that, she left—slowly to see if Riku would stop her, but he didn't.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Over the next week, Kairi did her normal routine of visiting Riku; he helped her with homework, she helped him if he was hurt.

His condition slowly continued to worsen, though; the whites of his eyes would always have small red veins along the corners, but Kairi wouldn't mind. His skin remained the pasty white color it'd turned since that day. When blood drawings were taken, it always looked like ink inside the test tubes. His breathing was hitching most of the time, other times being the norm. Riku told Kairi that doctors said his heart was being eaten away by the arsenic, but she refused to believe such a depressing theory.

"If I was your doctor and said you were gonna be just fine, would you believe me?" she asked him the day he told her the story.

"Yeah, hopefully," Riku replied cooly.

Shifting her weight in her usual chair, she looked at him with pain sparking from her dark irises. "Because that's how you'll be. Don't think otherwise, ever, okay? Promise?"

He blinked, blushing very slightly from her stare, and cleared his throat answering, "Yeah. I promise."

_'Besides, if it were true, wouldn't he be already dead? It's been nearly fourteen days...' _Kairi thought logically.

_'Does her coming to see me...mean I have a chance at telling her? I just can't seem to tell if she just does it to prove to Sora that she can play the best friend role...' _Riku thought desperately.

He continued keeping his feelings bottled up and, each time she left, wanted to at least try to tell her, sometimes beginning with shy stutters or ignoring his thoughts and staying quiet. At the same time, Kairi couldn't get Sora to come visit, not even once since the day Riku had been there.

At school, she tried to catch Sora, but could never find him, and at home, he'd never pick up his phone. So the next day, a chilli Tuesday, Kairi clung against Sora at cheek-to-cheek distance, but she could never use that advantage to try to confront him. She'd been watching him, but out of her eyes, he'd always disappear somewhere. With that, she decided not to bother him; it didn't mean she'd stop trying.

She met him at his locker at the end of the day, leaning herself against his body and affectionately saying, "Hey."

He turned to her, grinned for a bit, and shut his locker. "Hey, Kai," he said leisurely—as if her affection was. . .normal, if not cliché.

Kairi frowned, followed his way, and grabbed him by the arm. He stopped, turning. "Sora, can't we talk?" she asked urgently.

He smiled smugly, as if to try and break from her, saying, "Sorry, not today, Kairi."

She loosened her grip on his arm, blinking at him in utter shock. ". . .W-When was the last time you called me Kairi?" she asked slowly.

Sora looked reasonable, laughing a bit and answered, "I dunno. . .month's time?"

"Exactly. Sora. . .You've been distancing yourself from me for almost two weeks. I'm starting to think something's up."

"There's nothing to worry, Kairi." Still unaware he addressed her by her full name, he began to walk away, backpack slung across his shoulder, hands deep in his pockets. He neither turned back nor said anything else.

Neither did Kairi, not immediately.

Kairi _knew _his answer wasn't worth taking, because she knew he knew better than to ignore her that much. That night, she made an apporach across the islands in hope for serenity—and Sora. Deciding that nine times out of ten that he'd be at the Secret Place, she smiled to herself dreamily; just maybe pacifying her words to him would change his plans.

But "maybe" became _indefinant_. Kairi froze, and her theory was beginning to be proved wrong.

Sora was with a girl, by the looks of it. The girl was the same height as Kairi and had the same school uniform. In the shadows and within a small luster of the two, Kairi could make out a thick and straightened mess of blonde hair. . .

The girl gently pushed Sora and cornered him against a wall. A special wall—the one with the drawings of Sora and Kairi sharing a paopu fruit. Sora shivered a bit when the skin of his backside met the icy wall. Slowly, reluctantly, he lowered his wide-eyed gaze down to her. The blonde had a drunk-reddened face, it looked like, and did something that would've made Kairi charge to stop her, but she was frozen still.

The girl loosened and threw down her necktie, slowly beginning to unfasten her shirt, starting with the bottom button. And next to her feet lay an empty glass bottle of what looked like wine, at least a swig of it staining the ivory sand. . .

Somehow, Sora managed to push back the girl slightly, yelling, "I don't want to do this, Naminé!"

She quickly put her finger over his lips and shushed him. "Stay still and I won't bite. . . much."

Apparently Naminé was quite crazed for Sora right now—not acting like herself. Kairi knew Naminé was a slight addict with drinking, but did it cause her to woo Sora into her arms?

She didn't know that Naminé had such witt to try and betray her feelings. But by this, Kairi was sure Sora still loved her and not Naminé, since he was backing down. But. . .

Naminé threw her arms on his shoulders, pinning them, and kissed his neck, slowly nipping it with her tongue and always-soft lips. Those were _her_ lips around _Kairi's_ love. Even as the intolerance continued, Kairi did nothing about it, for shock was too much in control. '_Sora, do something…'_ she thought as the knot strained in her stomach.

But _she_ of all people should've been doing the stepping-in.

Sora pulled Naminé's hair roughly. She winced, but pleasure took over the straining on her neck as Sora wasn't letting go.

"You know my feelings, as well as Kairi's," Naminé muttered, "but you, Sora, don't seem to know what love really is."

He let her go, trying to take a step back, but it was useless. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, eyes to the ground.

"This twisted way your heart tries to continually yearn for Kairi isn't love. You say you love her, but. . .you actually can't resist me. And do you know why?" She laughed under her teeth as she unbuttoned more. "It's because _you_ doubt if Kairi loves you in return. You can't hide it; I can _always_ see your heart."

"Naminé. . ." He looked as if ready to push her down, but he sighed. "You're right. I don't know if Kairi loves me. I've been away from her too long not to blame her."

_'But I do!' _Kairi should've shouted outloud. '_Sora, I love you!'_

_"_And you don't love her," the blonde continued seductively, "do you. . ." She traced one baby-soft finger along his jawbone down to his collarbone, Sora bolting a bit in response, each of her new movements tensing him up.

Taking an accidental step forward, it caused Sora to bump against Naminé and kiss her. Once he did, somehow, he couldn't break away. After that, he seemed caught up in lust as she did, licking her tongue contstantly, then leaning down and giving her hot kisses up and down her neck. She winced delightfully and traced her fingers along his chest from outside his shirt. Sora finished unfastening her shirt for her, pulling it down and hugging her hot back, and kissed her cleavages. He didn't have regret, shame, or sadness. _Absolute pleasure_. The girl squealed and almost screamed in the slight pain and abundant pleasure received. He moved his lips even closer, almost underneath her bra, but then moved up and back to her lips, and she smiled before they met. He inched his fingers along her bra strap to move it down—just as he did Kairi—and slowly pulled it down over her shoulder, but then he stopped. He stopped everything.

"Put your shirt back on," he told her, _grinning_. "You're sexy enough without it."

Naminé nodded rapidly, a bit of an overwhelming feeling still about her, and she covered her partially exposed breasts back up, bending down to pick up her shirt. As she was bent over, Sora squeezed her ass like rubber, the two giggling shyly.

It was too late for Kairi to step in, excruciatingly hurt at herself for not interferring as she needed to. Sora hadn't replaced his thoughts about her, and only Naminé mattered to him now. She thought they were about to leave, so that's when she ran. When she ran far enough to be away from them, she crumpled down on the sand and spilled her grief.

A dam broke across her eyes as she ran around a various spot, kicking sand with her infuriated steps. She crumbled to the ground and hauled fistfuls of sand, crushing it in her fingers and ignoring the pinched bruises forming.

"Dammit, you fucking, fucking bastard!" she shouted. The new words that escaped her tongue were almost salty in taste, and she wanted more. "How do like banging a skank like her? Huh!" she threw a large rock by her feet as hard as she could into the ocean. "You know what, Sora? You just _nearly_ laid a hoe, you fucking coward, and I'm no hoe, got it!"

Regardless if they were friends of hers, she continually cursed like mad. Sora had betrayed her, their promises, their love and secrets. . . Now it was all forced to be cast aside. Kairi figured that ever loving a traitor of a friend—a downright bastard—was, as cliché, a big mistake.

_To be continued_


	6. Bass Notes

_Chapter 6: Bass Notes_

A lie faced the opposite side of the truth.

Held its own so firmly on the truth's back, a lie proved difficult to ascertain. One should regret ever letting the lie out of truth's sight- because then you'll only fall into pits of regret and shame.

To Kairi's hopes, this was how Sora was feeling. When she reached home, crying her eyes out was the first thing on the "Be a Wimp" list to do—instead, she called him countless times. No answers, except the stabbing conclusion that she lost closeness to her best friend.

Not even the periwinkle moon could provide her with a comforting back rub as she gazed upon it in her room's window. Shadows caressed Kairi's body as she avoided flicking on her light switch. Transparent tears trickled down the corners of her eyes and shattered or rolled off her trembling, sore fists. Her hunched back ached her shoulders and sides. She practically emptied the box of tissues in her bathroom as she constantly rose to her feet to grab handfuls. Back in her room, she could barely look at her distraught form: smudged eyeliner smoking her ugly tear tracks.

She was just downright dumb for dating him.

The last sniffle rid of, she timidly, reluctantly composed herself and decided to visit Riku. She'd been late enough—visiting him might cover for lost time, being a few minutes to eight.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Sora, what's wrong?"

Naminé lifted her half-naked body from underneath Sora's sheets, her face immediately paling at her lover's discomfort. As she listened to Sora puff out a ragged sigh, she crawled next to him across the end of the bed where he sat looking out his window. His fists clenched at his knees, some of his unruly bangs falling over his eyes as he craned his head downward.

"I-I can't..."

"Huh?" The blonde girl blinked, adjusting her fallen bra strap. "Sora, do what? I-"

He abruptly turned to her, halting her speech by raising his hand gently to her perfectly round face, then suddenly letting his hand drop.

"This," he began, waving darkly in her direction. He threw his other hand in the air. "This—Nam—I-I can't keep doing this to her." The girl was taken aback, gaping at Sora soundlessly. "She _knows_," he whispered, almost in disapproval. "Her footprints were there when we left. I could hear her screaming in the cove. I-I heard every word, Nam."

He was heartbroken and ashamed—guilty at the highest level.

A pettite hand graced its way to Sora's shaking shoulder. Her carnation lips tilted upward sweetly, ghosting her lover's ear. "But you don't have to worry."

Sora gasped slightly when her palm petted a side of his tan neck. He gently tried to shoo her off. "Naminé, s-stop. Please—"

"I love you, Sora," she whispered hotly into his ear, followed by the tiniest nibble at the lobe. "You love me, too. You do..."

Her words were like perfume, enticing his nose; like a lullaby, seeking more of her sweetness to lull him.

And with a snap of her delicate fingers, he nearly pounced on top of her, showering her face and body with feathery pecks, just like she wanted.

-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Dammit, where _is_ she?"

Riku shut his eyes, hoping to hear a knock. Nothing. For the umpteenth time, it was _nothing_.

Why wouldn't she just _appear_ there? That door had not yet opened!

Kairi would always come at 2:30 P.M., always. What could be slowing her down? Traffic? _Sora_ might've called? His body trembled just thinking of her hesitant excuse.

His eyes never broke from the door. He'd waited for the click of the knob, the groan of the hinges, and the burning, sensational, real presence of Kairi. But still, she wasn't there. He'd waited an hour, two hours, and since now has waited. His eyes were now loading with fatigue, burning, and turning grey with impatience. He slumped back against his upright pillows and sighed, one of the only things he had left to do if he felt disappointed. . . and flatly decided: She _wasn't_ coming.

Just then, the door ticked open lightly.

In a mixture of excitement and panic, Riku jolted his head towards the mirror on the nearest wall. He rubbed his eyes until he almost galled them. Good, they were icy blue again. He checked his silver threads. A pile of hat hair, but he roughed them through with a small, red, nearly toothless comb he'd found by the lamp. He rummaged through the side of his bag and found a few pocket-warm mints and shoved them into his mouth, chomping them until he bit down hard on his tongue. As he swallowed the cooling mint and a little blood, he detatched the tubes from his arms, legs and chest. Quickly, he made one final touch—a first as well: he tore off the hospital gown and threw on black pants and a black tee (after all, Kairi wouldn't think of Riku being just as hot as Sora being shirtless, would she?)

But it was just Cara to bring his medicine. After being asked of his condition, he answered quickly, "Just peachy," and asked if she'd seen Kairi, but she hadn't.

_'What joy,' _he thought sarcastically. "Okay, thanks, then."

"You should be able to get out for a bit tomorrow, but we'll need you here longer," Cara explained.

"Oh, great." Riku was a tad thrilled to get some spaceous freedom as he threw his sheets over his bed to make it look presentable. But he didn't feel much better- his chest still ached like a thousand hot irons, making it hurt like hell to breathe, his head felt too heavy for his neck to hold, and his skin was overly sensitive whenever he'd touch some things.

Once Cara left, Riku was ready to just give up, but soon after, another tick was at the door as it opened barely a crack.

Riku paused at this, not scared, but patient, maybe, as he awaited the entrance of a soul.

Blinded by unshead tears, Kairi stopped. What would Riku say if he knew she'd been crying? Probrably something negative and mean. She was still wishy-washy of if she should've been here. But regardless, she swept her small hands over her eyes and slowly entered with her chin up.

His lights were dimmed as she entered, which surprisingly hurt her eyes after crying in the dark. She held back her sniffling and waved to him, saying hi. Alert at this, probrably from instinct, he smelled her tears.

"Dammit, what did he say to you?" Riku yelled defensively.

Kairi looked up sharply. "Sora? He. . .didn't say anything," she truthfully said, shocked to find him noticing her change in emotion.

His tone lightened. "Then why've you been crying?"

"I wasn't-."

"I can _smell_ your tears, Kairi." Serious again, his tone grew tense. "Did Sora hurt you?"

She chewed grittily on her lower lip to stop her sad gasp. Tears sprung back into her eyes and she nodded briskly. Riku contained his anger with a sigh, then slowly approached Kairi and hugged her. Not with much affection for the sake of embarrassment, but enough to comfort her by letting her place her head into his chest, where she sobbed bitterly. Riku cringed as she yelled a muffled "Why did he have to do that?" deep into his chest. Her head was still burried as she said clearly, "I found out just a few hours ago that Sora was close to raping Naminé. He only stopped to say that she looked much better than me, never mentioning me."

Taking this in, Riku stroked her hair, not knowing he was. "Then why didn't you come to me sooner?"

The fuzzy feeling of Riku's fingers and palm tracing from the crown of her head to the small of her back caused her to pause for a moment, but she soon answered, "Because I was too hurt. . ."

"You never stopped him?" He commanded her to look up at him as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry. . . I couldn't. . ." She turned away miserably.

"It's not your fault, Kairi." He said lowly, "It's mine."

_'If getting out of love with Sora meant Kairi grieving, it's not something to be eating out of her hands with. I've never seen her. . .so depressed.'_

His thoughts broke as Kairi asked, "How could it be your fault?"

Surprised that she'd heard that, Riku answered quickly, "W-Well, I should've defended you, that's all."

What else could he say?

"No. You couldn't be there. It's fine," she muttered.

Riku shook his head. "Boy, is he in for it. . ." He carassed Kairi's head at a slightly faster pace.

"Riku. . ." She coiled her arms over his back and gazed at the floor as her tears subdued.

"You know what you have to do, right?" he asked with reconciliation.

"Huh. . ." Kairi sniffled.

"Dump him, stupid. You have no other choice."

Kairi gasped a little, looking up at him. "I don't. . .?"

He gave her a look that spoke for itself. With that, Kairi nodded.

Riku seemed always there for her whenever she was upset. The heartache was being soothed by Riku's care against Kairi's head, and she leaned up against his chest, becoming warm in the continuing embrace. Riku himself just realized that this was a way of showing affection and he stepped off. Seeing the white return to her eyes, Riku flashed her a quick smile. Kairi looked composed now, and Riku was glad about it, but he hadn't told her _how glad_ he was.

"Are you well enough to take a walk with me?" Kairi asked brightly, sweetly.

"'Well enough'?" Riku scoffed. "I barely look it."

"You look. . ." She glanced at him hard, honestly baffled by his appearance—skin like a zombie, eyes withered with red, and a barely dressed attire (showing his arm muscles, and thighs from his rolled-up pants legs)—and she agreed only slightly by saying, "We can arrange that."

"Why should I, Kairi?" he asked, placing a hand to his head and scratching it.

"You need to get out just a little, Riku."

He exhaled before answering, "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Why now, though?"

"Why not? Me and Sora used to walk at night all the time. Sora was always at my side and took me to many places around the islands. We laughed constantly, never frowned for a bit. At that time he _wanted_ me. Now it's like he's not linked to me anymore. I can't help but miss being with him."

Riku opened his mouth to speak, but she dreamily ranted on:

"And when we were going out, we were happy—I was happy._ Everyone_ was. Nam was with Roxas, I was with Sora. . .now we aren't together, and our relationship, it's. . .it's. . ."

"Could you stop talking about Sora for five seconds?" Riku muttered tensely.

"It's hard," she protested. Her grief looked quick to return. "And if you're a friend of mine, you should at least defend me. You even said so."

He turned to her, his eyes flashing in protest. "What's there for me to do, huh? And you're crazy if you think _I'm_ the one to 'defend' you after you caused your own mistake."

Her voice rose, her arms raising in equal protest. "You don't know what it's _like _to see rejection right before your eyes. Your eyes can't even see half of me."

Riku nodded and spat sarcastically, "Oh, and Sora's see every bit." As Kairi lowered her arms, Riku continued, "Face it: there're some things about you that Sora's too stupid to take note of."

Kairi shook her head in disbelief. "What's your excuse to that?"

"Because in case you forgot, _I_ was one of your friends, too."

She grew silent, Riku looking as if saying his own words punched him. What point were either of them coming across? Kairi was stressing herself sick with the Sora incident; Riku was concerned about _her_ feelings—her grief, her lossening obsession—and his own for her that couldn't be told just yet, not until she was ready to drop the act of Sora. However, she wasn't willing to crumble up and burn every page that pertained to her love for him.

"It's not enough. . .to forget. . ." she whispered, reading a foreign page of Riku's expression. "I know you're my friend and I love you just as, but there's _nothing_ that can replace it all, Riku. There just isn't."

"I'm getting downright sick of you trying to hold onto those feelings you need to let go of, Kairi," he told her with frayed eyes, his voice hauling in volume. "Let it go."

"B-But. . ."

"Kairi, that's it." He clapped both his hands on her shoulders, gently, making her jump.

He pushed her back against the wall beside him, restraining her movements carefully. Something caused Kairi to stop battling against him as the quivers in her body conquered. Surrendering to the breathtaking stare that Riku had brought to her, she jerked back her gaze to resist. Her body slowly began to numb.

_'What the hell is he doing?' _She thought, her breathing space locking up.

"Kairi, listen to me," said Riku tensely. "Your feelings are blinding you. You don't realize how much you're weakened by them." Riku winced at his own words—or by his pains—but turned back to her with thoughtful eyes. "I guess what I'm trying to really say. . . is. . ."

No more delays. He just closed his eyes. His grip failing against her shoulders, he planted his hands, which trembled a bit, along the wall behind Kairi.

Blood pounded through Kairi's ears, heavy and sharp like bass notes. Her heartbeats skipped across each other with every breath she took. She was in deep realization of what he was appeared to be trying to do—kiss her—and she felt horrified, not to mention confused. Her fingers clawed against the walls. Her breath froze as she sucked her cheeks back, feeling his breath getting closer to her.

Riku held her wrist just beside her waist. She knew giving into his touch would only let him win—that wasn't happening. She tried to seek answers: What was kissing her going to prove? Why was he, and what for? Riku was getting closer and there wasn't much time to ask. Kairi felt her stomach turn numerous times. She wanted to be sick, to faint, maybe; to just get _away_. She felt as if she was getting a migraine, the back of her skull digging into the painted wall. Her eyes scrunched tightly and she readied herself to force him off of her until she heard in a sore, breathy voice. . .

"Kairi, I love you."

That hadn't come from Sora. From Riku: it was a package waiting to be shipped off. . .but delivered to the wrong address.

Kairi's cheeks blazed red as she heard this, her eyes squinting to a slow opening. She suddenly averted her gaze to her right to find Riku's cheek against her ear, his chin weighing down her shoulder. The sigh he dispursed traveled slowly down her neck and underneath her cotton orange sweater. Intuition had taken over now, which told her that he was going to kiss her neck. Could've she been wrong? Possibly.

Riku hoped to hear from her core of gladness. He hadn't ever expected her to scream. A shuddered, grievious shout she gave, pushing him weakly but enough to break him off of her. She dashed out, huffing with a bloodshot face, looking toward nothing but the light of freedom as she was gone.

_To be continued_


	7. Unsettled

_Chapter 7: Unsettled_

Where else could Kairi find her happy place away from _who_ used to be it? School had to be the worst with her two best friends poisoning her mind, mingling with her academic standards—which distracted her all throughout classes. After school and approaching her locker, she peered down the hall to see Sora, too, at his locker, replacing his supplies. Naminé wasn't there (thankfully), but Kairi had that flashback sense in her mind—the one from Riku telling her to end the relationship. But as she somewhat slammed her locker and rotated her body, preparing to approach Sora, she crashed into Naminé, who, after noticing Kairi, slowly, shyly met the redhead's infuriated face, attempting to make her own a sensible smile.

"Good afternoon, Kairi," Naminé cooed politely.

Kairi didn't buy it as she grasped Naminé's arm with the force of a pinch, causing the blonde to wince. This was enough to keep Kairi's fire enlarging. "How long've you two went out?" she asked suspiciously.

Naminé blinked nervously. "Oh, you must be wrong. M-Me and Roxas broke up." She abled herself to free her burning arm.

"Cut it out!" she shouted at a disturbing volume. "You and _Sora_. How long!"

"I don't know…" she said, grinning rashly, stepping away from her. "You should ask him…"

Kairi growled at Naminé's snicker and seductive shush. Kairi brushed past her and stopped right behind her ex, whose back was to her.

"Sora?" Kairi asked, drumming his shoulder.

He slowly turned, finding her voice all too familiar, then plastered an artificial mellow grin. "H-Hey, what's up, Kai-?"

She halted his sentence with one echoing slap across his face. "That's what's up."

Naminé, seeing this, gasped, fearful of Kairi's actions.

Sora poked his eye open, turning his neck slowly as if it strained, and glared at Kairi as if she'd flipped her lid. "What the hell was that!"

Shameless that she slapped him, Kairi blubbered weakly. She hated how wimpy she was, but couldn't alter that right away. She also felt that beginning with a statement like "I saw you there with her last night" or "You know what you did" would be downright pathetic and cliché.

"Glad to see you're more happy with her. Isn't that right?" she hollered instead. "Naminé makes you happier than you've ever been with me. And I know-."

"Kairi, what are you talking about?" Sora interrupted.

"Save it, Sora. It's done, and so are we." She began to walk away but Sora lunged after her, gripping her wrist and stopping her. "You can say what you want, but I know what happened. And don't think a little kiss or even the best damn one you've got will change my mind." She freed her arm.

Sora exhaled a bit. He never argued nor planned to with Kairi, so he finished, "You're right about it all. And I fooled myself thinking the two of us had this destiny link. I'm sorry for hurting you, really. And I agree with you, Kairi: we are done. If you're okay with that, then so am I."

"You heard me, didn't you?" she asked, turning around just to say that. "Nothing'll change my mind."

Sora touched her shoulder and she faced him, avoiding his gaze, but when she glanced up enough to see him close his eyes, part his lips, and slowly advance on her, she leaped back, eyes widening as this reminded her of Riku, and she shook her head. Instead she extended her hand for a handshake—since hugs were overrated. As they shook, Kairi noted that this would never end their friendship—commonly with all ended relatonships. Sora smiled her a final good-bye and left.

"Now how about you, Naminé?" Kairi asked, turning to her.

Naminé shrugged. "What of me? I'm just glad it all went well."

"What, to save your own ass?" she yelled depressedly.

She turned and glared at that remark. "I don't apply to selfishness, just so you know. I was happy for you—but now I take it back."

Now shocked at herself, Kairi held Naminé by her shoulder. "I'm sorry…"

"I know how jealous you are," said Naminé again with that seductive smile. "But relax: while me and Sora do each other, you can kick back and find youself someone else."

"Wait. You two are going to-."

"I was going to remind him tonight. Yes, he's going to have sex with me, and I _will _enjoy it."

Kairi withdrew her gasp, but pursed her lips into a scowl. "Go ahead; let your relationship die just as mine did! Watch your virginity fall back—let Sora conceive you without you knowing how it'll turn out! I won't be there when you lose yourself and Sora will never see you as how he does now."

Naminé paused, taking thought of that final statement. "How _does_ he see me?" she asked timidly.

Kairi gently sighed and told her, "You're beautiful in ways I can't compete with. He loves you for you, Naminé, and having sex won't prove it at all. It's a mistake and-."

"Kairi," Naminé muttered, her eyes breaking from the gaze. "I see your point. But. . .don't think it'll let Sora off the hook. I've. . .I've put a spell on him to arouse him, and it can't be broken unless we do it."

"You and your stupid magic's got Sora into this, hasn't it?"

She cringed, then nodded slowly. "I went too fast and. . .now I've messed up your whole relationship. . ." She looked at Kairi sincerely. "Kairi, I'm so sorry."

Kairi wanted to be angrier, but she tendery scooped Naminé into her arms. "Just find some way to break the spell you brought, Naminé, please. If you can, then. . ."

Naminé sniffled, which halted Kairi's speech. "I understand. I'll t-try, I promise. . ." She looked up into her friend's eyes. "I'm honestly not ready for this. I can't do it like I thought I could. I've . . .been so stupid lately. All that drinking made me lust for Sora instead of love him. I just hope I come up with something else."

"I'll make sure to be of any help, Nam." Kairi finally smiled.

"Thank you. Oh, Kairi," Kairi turned back as Naminé continued, "there's someone that cares for you as Sora is for me. I can see it here." She touched the middle of her chest where her heart was. "You know who it is?"

"No," Kairi replied candidly.

She smiled. "He talks to your heart every day."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As Kairi opened her front door, she rose a hand from the hem of her skirt to the buttons of her blouse, abosrbing the soft pitch of her heart.

'Who _talks to my heart every day?' _she thought, eyebrows furrowing.

It obviously wasn't Sora (anymore), so she didn't suspect anyone else. Was there no other person as important? Kairi scrunched her fists at this fantasy.

Kairi felt her body soak with sweat—the thought that someone could be secretly stalking her heart daily began to feel haunting. Rinsing off the sweat with a long shower, Kairi pulled over a warm sandy sweater and bark-colored trousers. Lifting the wooden lid of her jewelry box, she selected a necklace with tear-drop pearls that decreased from large to small. Riku gave her this on her sixteenth birthday. . .

As she burried the necklace in earrings and bracelets, she self-reminded not to visit him after going through such a wanton experience.

But was that the right thing to do—leave him to eat dust off the floor—after she'd proclaimed she'd be there for him? It wasn't, but then again, it was.

Kairi struggled to decide, for it was the hardest knot she ever had to loosen within herself. To try to lower the stress even lower, she completed her homework within an hour or so, but that still didn't buy the time. She wanted to be free of worry for Riku's safety, but nothing seemed to cover it up. In all that time, her fingers trembled just imagining if he was calling her name from where he was, despreately. She couldn't handle him being desperate, even if this thought was just an act of being overprotective.

But all the more, there was not one exuse that stopped her from still supporting him.

Before she entered the hospital, Kairi noticed crystalized ivory had fallen against some of her hair, looking up to see this falling. It was the first snow on Destiny Islands this year, and Kairi was surprised that a couple weeks before Christmas it was just occuring. She smiled at this, though—snow had its ways of defining beauty. Clinging to the V-shaped collar on her overcoat, she trotted on in.

Once there, she stopped to stamp the quickly-accumulated snow off her boots stallingly—she suddenly had much in her that told her being here wasn't her best choice. She sat down in a chair by his room and lingered several minutes—an hour, it felt—enough to notice the ceasing snowfall and the midday sun. She kicked her legs restlessly, but didn't want them in the presence of Riku. She shed herself of her coat, smoothing out the slightest wrinkle in her white fleece sweater, tugging at the ends of her brown corduroys. After that stalling moment, she forced an advancement in movement, lifted herself from her chair, faced the truth, and pushed with her palm the door open. She kept her eyes down for, honestly, she expected him to be mad or upset at her—she must've been the one who hurt his feelings by running off. Regret pulled her back, urging her to do the same cowardly act and just bail. But as she looked up—inhaling, revoking her sigh, the pit of her stomach a butterfly net—she stepped in.

"Ri—." She then stopped.

As she lifted her feeble eyes, she was a tad shocked to notice that he was unaware of her presence, litterally; his gaze was nowhere near her. In fact, his back was to her as he was sitting at the edge of his bed, clothed in the hospital gown once more. He released a heavy, almost buzzing sigh that made her step back to where only a sliver of her body could be seen, and she obviously kept her lips quiet.

Kairi heard a crackled voice a short distance from Riku that said, "Guess you pushed the mountain too far. Did ya have to tell her then?" The voice—she knew it was Sora—sounded displeased.

Riku answered modestly, "Give me credit for at least taking that _chance_, idiot."

Kairi craned her neck a little to find that Riku had put Sora on speaker-phone, and heard him ask idly, "Took a lot outta you?"

Riku glared at the phone and pretended to flick him off. "Shut up. Like that matters." He paused a moment, then went on, "I feel like I misled her, ended our trust, you get me?"

"Well, I hope I do-."

"Either you do or don't, Sora," he snapped shrilly. "Make up your mind."

Unintimidated, Sora seemed to lodge another topic by saying, "Riku, can you hold for just a second?"

"Quit playing around, you dumb-."

"I'm serious. I need to think about something—and Kairi. You should think of her, too."

Surirsingly chuckling, he considered humbly, mustering, "Gladly."

Riku turned the phone to set the receiver side face down. He altered his position over his semi-soft bed, adjusting his body against it as it creaked somewhat soothingly. Speading his body out lazily, a hand moving tiredly down his face, he felt exhausted. He wanted sleep, but something stopped him. As if to banish his sleepiness, he got off the mattress and stood up, but he did so too quickly and felt the room spinning about. He straightened up clumsily and extended a slow hand for the window, eyes squinted. He brushed away the curtains and tore open the blinds, light stretching through every corner of the room, tearing the sleep right out of his eyes, replacing it with pain.

The light was hurtful? Then again, this seemed all true as he'd yearned for the darkness in the past.

But this—a welcoming sunshine—secretly withheld inner wrath that aimed directly at Riku? It added up, but summed out awkwardly. Maybe it was just a sign that the arsenic was getting _worse_. . .

Kairi still didn't lean much of herself out, for it still seemed mistakable. But this wasn't worth watching, either.

Riku had torn his gaze from the light yelping, eyes scrunched tightly with his hand closely blocking them; staggering several footsteps back, he then backflopped hard onto the floor, simultaneously side-impacting his bed and countertop, tipping a glass half-full of water that fell beside him and shattered, sending millions of crystal shards large and small that cut his right arm almost enitrely, and he screamed at that, too, hissing at the pain and sight of his blood, the water lightening the blackish color only by a fraction.

Kairi bit her lip at this, wincing at what she peeked in and mostly heard from his injuring, and leaned a bit at the door, eyes burning by small, unshed tears. She wanted to break out and run, tell a nurse and leave it to her, giving herself the ride-away. That was just about to fall into place until she heard:

"You're right. . . Kairi. . ." he managed, laughing at himself shamefully. "I really can't make it through this without you. Needless to say: I'm weak, all right? You coach me through things that I'm too ignorant to see coming. And there's something else I can't. . .I can't do without you. . .You'd have to be here to realize it." After that heart-warming speech, he mumbled, "Damn, someone get me a freakin' thick bandage. . ." in term to his excessively painful arm.

When she'd stopped when her name was heard, she never turned back. The hollowing grief from Sora could only get better if she let Riku dig friendship back in, her in turn giving him comfort and support. Kairi stepped inside, saying his name, stopping as she did and saw him turn around only enough to see his head from the opposite side of the bed. The paleness in her face wasn't enough to miss the smile she'd offered to him, but Riku wasn't buying it at all as he turned back to his wound.

She didn't know the problem with it until she got a first look. Barely-visible shards bit into his skin, the darkest-ever shade of red in his blood oozing thickly and dripping off his wrist. Larger ones prodded meanly into his forearm, disallowing Riku to bend it. Kairi's eyes widened like saucers and her lips trembled, but she swallowed her fear and bent down next to him, ignoring the fact that Riku turned away. Half-uselessly, he began brushing the smallest shards off of his arm, Kairi starting to take two fingers along to remove the larger ones, but he grumbled, "I can handle it."

She didn't stop. "No you can't," she replied and daintily started to pluck out the triangular shards.

She refused to meet his eyes so he implied a glare at her.

Awaiting for him to reply wittily, she continued, "If you want to help yourself, why don't you mind writing out your apology speech?"

"Too late, it's already done. And it reads: 'Why bother?'"

She stood silently to warmly wet a towel and return with a bottle of antiseptic and a roll of gauze. She held her reply until she sat back down with the supplies, which was: "You know why."

"Sorry, I'm too much of a dumbass to listen," he said sarcastically.

She shot him a glare that he missed from rolling his eyes. Inside her, she wanted to just let him suffer, but the goodness of her heart guided her to treating his arm in antiseptic and blotting away the blood. Some of it swept along her fingers unnoticed, and she made the mistake of habitably dabbing her lips, smearing his blood over them.

_'Her blood. . . ' _A villanous thought came to mind.

No, that had to be Ansem in his thoughts. It would've been absurd if that was himself thinking so crazily. . .

_'Her blood!'_ The thought shouted this time, sending Riku's thoughts into reining confusion.

When he looked up at her, the blood only at the tips of her fingerpads and lips, his expression changed to a tormenting, crazed stare that he couldn't undo. When she met these rapacious eyes, she didn't draw herself away; instead, wordlessly knit her eyebrows in a concerned-stricken manner. Riku's eyes widened for a split second, then he lashed at her hyperactively. She was too late to lean back and his tongue smashed over her lips—his lips barely. He held her waist and refrained her movement, and he glided his tongue all around her lips, not quite discovering the taste of them, for he was sucking the blood clean off. (It was his after all, but what made him be "controlled" into thinking otherwise?) Kairi screamed but it altered into an ear-shattering moan from his tongue holding it back. She found the feel in her hands and shoved Riku off, gasping with her head down, inhaling delicious air. After redeeming herself, she shot him a nasty glare, her face steaming red. Riku bolted at this, his eyebrows creased with worry, but he immediately caught on. "Kairi, I swear to God, it wasn't my fault, I. . . I don't know what happened!"

Kairi scoffed unbelievably. "Oh, God knows you're lying. . ." She shook her head, standing. "I knew you'd do something so low. . ."

"Kairi!" He bent back his elbows to push himself off the ground but as he did, the excessive hurt prevaded his right arm still. Cringing a bit, he took her by the hand using his good arm, pulling her so she'd stand still. His words hurt as he repeated, "It _wasn't. . ._my fault. You _gotta_ believe-."

"_You?_" she finished offensively. "You're not even the last person I'll turn my trust to, _ever_."

"Do you really think that?" he entreated. He tugged her arm a little. "_Really?_"

She exhaled from her nose irritatingly, grimacing in a downward gaze, her body shaking in mass confusion.

"Kairi, look at me. . ." he pleaded, taking his next hand under her chin, ignoring the pinning glass. He urged her to meet his eyes, but she cast them in every other direction and tried to avoid them.

"I can't stand looking into your eyes. . . so much that they make me sick. They. . . look so mean and dark. . ." She snubbed, squinting.

"Thanks." He nodded, altering her hurtful words into a compliment. "Yours are pretty, too."

She blushed, knowing he'd yielded her words. But he had no idea what he was saying, and she knew, because he should've backtalked instead.

As he looked into her eyes he looked at her lips- which he might've hurt. They were still a soft pink color but reddened in the center either from him biting her or from the leftover blood. But they remained the same lovely sweetness as he'd always seen them. . .

Damn, he wanted to kiss her, _really _kiss her. She was _this_ close to him, but he knew that would only result in her unpleasant resentment. No further thoughts of this tied the knot as she broke her face away.

Kairi swallowed harshly. "I'm going. . ."

"With you," he finished abruptly for her.

She turned to him, a sting of disbelief in her eyes.

"I gotta prove to you something. Anyway, why don't we take that walk we were near to?"

Kairi bobbed her head reluctantly.

Riku began to haul up the gown, about to haul it over his shoulders, but Kairi shrieked and entreated, "Why are you undressing while I'm in here?"

Riku poked his head from the shirt hole and gave her a peculiar look that changed into a cocky smile. "Relax, I got pants on. If you wanna wait, the door is _right_ there."

Kairi pouted a bit, turning to temporarily leave, but then she stopped—self-aware that it could be safe for her to be there while he was at least half-dressed. She stayed quiet so it didn't draw Riku's attention, but stepped back out of his side-glance, staring modestly as he fully removed the gown. His bare back was to her, but as he bent over to his left, she stepped back silently—she was yet to be noticed. When he turned, she got a side view of his chest, where she marveled his features: his pack—four or six?—his bi's and tri's, which looked rather sexy—and Sora barely had—and the way his shoulders were so broad and manly. She urged herself to look closer, to discover more, but stopped. It was dirty of her. Besides, he was already pulling on a plain black long-sleeve and slung a thick grey jacket over his shoulders. Riku then glanced up at Kairi, who'd stared him down for quite some time, and she turned away, blushing a faint red. Riku shrugged it off and followed her out, but this wasn't until he'd gotten a stream of gauze decorated over his arm.

_To be continued_


	8. Bleeding Point, Part 1

_Chapter 8: Bleeding Point_

By the guidance of Riku, the two reached a commendable hillside away from the hospital's coherent view, seating themselves on the snug, wheat-colored, snow-capped grass.

It didn't feel so much a cushion but more like a frozen pile of needles—for Riku had been _sitting_ longer than he needed to.

Kairi was at least a foot apart from where Riku sat, hugging her legs and letting the frigid wind cool her sweating body. It was colder than usual, maybe twenty or so degrees. She didn't let the temperature get to her as she was now blushing, casting shy glances at Riku. He hadn't noticed this, staring up into the ivory sky that valued to a darkening blue in the horizon, the wind causing his hair to hover just above his broad shoulders.

Why wasn't he saying anything? Why wasn't _she_? It turned out that tedious embarrassment beat them to this hill.

What kind of love could there be from a guy like him—timid at times, bold at others, always willing to protect her, always wanting a second chance when Sora would win every time? That was weird to her, hard to be pleased with. Riku wasn't like Sora, and when he said he loved her she. . .she now laughed sadly.

Riku turned to her, uneasy, wondering if he was at fault. "W-What's wrong?"

Kairi blushed harder, tears accumulating into her eyes. "I. . ." She choked on this sentence, curling her lips together and shaking her head.

She knew he wasn't buying it. She knew he'd approach her tenderly, taking his hand on some part of her face to make her meet those eyes she hated, hated only because she still loved Sora's madly, intensely. That was exactly what Riku did, only he added one thing: kissing her cheek.

Kairi was ready to slap him through angry tears, but found kindness in his lips, a like softness to Sora's, but this time didn't compare. Instead, she let herself go from him and buried her face in her hands. She reddened more than ever, confused by the complexity in her emotions.

Riku turned his attention away from her for moments only to run a hand over parts of his body that temporarily heated up and drowned in pain. He shot a hand to his throbbing head, wincing, the wind kicking up and slowly healing it. His abnormal heartbeat steadied a bit of his feverish embarrassment from kissing her, the first he'd ever done on his own, the first he'd ever potentially had.

Turning back to each other simultaneously, she broke the gaze as she blinked some more tears down her face, but just as fast held it again, Riku never leaving it for an instant. She averted her gaze, unknowing Riku scooting close to her as she rose her voice just above a whisper, "You never meant it. . ."

"How could you prove that?" he asked realistically. "You don't know what you just said."

"Don't I?" She couldn't bring herself to glare at him—her eyes were to heavy for that. "Easy for you to say."

"Hear me out." He took a dying, shallow breath. "I _do_ love you, Kairi. I love-."

"Yourself," she finished shakily. "Not me."

"Why aren't you convinced?" he asked, keeping his anger below the mark.

She didn't know how to answer that. If she answered Sora, then he'd probably yell at her—for, truthfully, that wasn't the reason for her inconsideration. She just _wasn't_; that was her explanation—the kind she wanted Riku to take.

"I'm not convinced because. . .I can just _comprehend_ that you'll break my heart like Sora did. Can't you just accept that?"

"_Please_. What an excuse." He turned his gaze upward as he felt her close to glaring at him. "Am I really _that much_ like Sora?"

He heard silence, but knew she was slowly, reluctantly shaking her head. He turned to her suddenly, a dash of serenity in his eyes, and rolled himself even closer to her, crawling his body between her legs, interlocking his hands over hers. Kairi's breath shuddered, for she knew he wanted to kiss her _again_.

_'Not this again, Riku. . .' _her mind begged as she shut her eyes tight.

Justifying the fact that she'd try and break away, Riku stopped a moment, then said just between a natural tone and a whisper, "At least give me a chance. . .to express how I feel." He met her eyes and hers practically melted. "If I can't do that, then feel free to throw me away. But I promise: I'll do all I can to-."

She knew she just had to do it. She knew Riku wouldn't allow her space until she kissed him once—so she thought. She tilted her neck forward and pressed her lips into his, cutting his words off. Holding her neck there for a few seconds as it strained, Riku caressed her head and allowed her to lean back. Her head landed loosely onto the grass, the cold of white and the itch of the plant against her ears.

A large percent of her wanted to discover a new taste of someone's lips.

Kairi had been kissed many times before, but the one she gave Riku felt as new and real as her very first kiss. There was a spark of difference in Riku's lips that outlawed Sora's—but once again, she did not compare.

Riku guided a hand through her long, sleek, semi-damp hair, another over her gentle face to brush the remaining tears away. Kairi pushed her legs together, which hugged against Riku's waist, holding him in place for more. She kissed him deeper, increasing their passion and warmth. Riku began to feel the rhythm of it and started kissing her back. Diving her tongue into the middle of his lips, Kairi pushed Riku's mouth open more to catch his tongue. With Riku's fist experience with a tongue kiss, he moved his tongue around frantically until he felt hers, moaning a bit inside her mouth.

After a while, he seemed to get the hang of the exchange of taste that sweetened against his lips, hovering his body completely atop of hers and pushing his tongue in to lick the farthest part of her mouth. Her moan was slurred and loud, but pleasurable. He, too, moaned a little more when she gave him rapid licks on the insides of his cheeks with the tip of her tongue. They were panting inside each other, heating up insanely from this, the cold doing little to help.

Riku about had enough, but he didn't want to stop. He leaned back a little, urging himself to end it, but he figured it could last just for another few moments.

The white in the sky dimmed fairly quickly, and light snow began to dance through the air. The color of the sky was a warm delicacy of grey mixed with valued shades of blue, dimming the light above as the hour became late. The thin snowflakes landed slowly and softly against Kairi's pink cheeks just below her eyes, melting on contact. As Riku opened his eyes slightly, ready to stop, he immediately chanced that those snowflakes were tears, since they ran down her cheek, and ended the kiss quickly.

"Are you okay?" he asked urgently, looking down and examining her face.

Slowly opening her eyes, she nodded.

"Good," he said simply, breaking off from atop her.

Kairi sat up, her elbows leaning against the grass to support her position, and looked up at him, a faint smile on her face, the cold nipping her cheeks pinker. Riku, on the contrary, was panting roughly, closing a trembling fist and resting it near his face so that his knuckles were touching his lips.

"Whoa. . ." he whispered to himself, closing his eyes for a moment to find out if he'd been dreaming.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Kairi asked after altering her lips into a straight line.

He blinked at her, about to say something, but she continued.

"If all you wanted me to do was to kiss you, then I can leave, right? Have my own space? I mean, I'm better now, and, supposedly, you are, too."

"Actually. . ." Riku began candidly, "that isn't all."

"Why not?" she said forcefully, scowling as he turned a shy face away. "What else do you want?"

"Don't say it like that. 'What else do you want?'' he rose his voice a few octaves as he mimicked hers. He locked eyes with her tensely. "Why not this: What else do you think you should be giving?"

She lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "To. . .?"

He glowered harder at her.

She smiled to herself rhetorically. "Oh. You. . .right."

"_And_?" He was growing restless.

She turned to him suddenly. "Give me a hint."

Riku groaned, sliding his hand down his face.

"What?" she demanded, folding her arms across her chest.

He gave her tired, annoyed eyes. "I might as well just _tell _you. . ."

She shifted her position uncomfortably but nodded otherwise.

With his eyes facing the ground for several moments, Riku gave a sigh that faded into the wind. He scrunched his eyes shut, his eyebrow twitching in agitation. Kairi touched his hand and Riku's cheeks glowed, his eyes blinking back into reality. He set his other hand over hers, stroking the back of her hand tenderly, and mustered sternly, looking into her eyes, "Tell me that you love me. And mean it."

All she could do was gasp quietly, then falling absolutely still. Snow continued to touch her face, her redness continually causing the snowflakes to melt quickly. She released her hand from his, holding his gaze unresponsively.

_'What. . .should I. . .say to him?'_

_'She's fallen out of love with Sora…she just can't accept it. Dammit, why can't her heart decide what's _right_ for her?'_ he thought after several moments in time.

"Kairi, it's been over five minutes. What's your answer?" he asked, high-hoped.

Kairi hid her face near the ground, her fingers curled into tight fists that pulled on the delicate grass and crunched the snow. She bit her lip to try and get her tears to well back down, but it wasn't working as salt water coasted down her cheeks. She held back her sniffles, which hurt her nose, especially from the cold. It was obvious that Riku knew because he sighed and instinctively smelled her tears again. He tried to pull her close but she tore away as she felt his hand draping over her shoulder. She heaved and she looked at him with soggy, tired eyes.

"Why do you love me, Riku? All the times. . .through the steps we took, they were with me and Sora, and you and Sora. Never you and me." She took a breath, "I can't find anything within my heart that tells me that I'm out of love with Sora. And if I am, then. . .I just am!"

"And I don't know if you are, but all I know is that you should be."

She inhaled, more tears falling down her cheeks.

"And why?" he said quickly, "It's because. . .you saw him betray you. You_ know_ if he really loved you still, he would've backed down. And if you'd get that back into your head, you'd realize it's why you should be out of love with Sora."

She knew, or thought, any excuse would result in him yelling. So she piped up loosely, "Then, what's the reason that I should love you?"

He shook his head, smiling cockily. "I really don't have a reason. And if I did, it would be unfair. You have to find the answer yourself." Riku then cringed, clutching at the fabric of his shirt at his chest and coughed roughly.

"Riku. . ." she muttered, concerned.

"Heh. . .I think it's time you brought me back. . .to that place I long to be released from." He gave her a weak smile, standing up shakily.

Once back in the room, Riku sat on his bed, Kairi in the chair. They stared at their own legs, avoiding each others' gaze. Before long, Kairi said gently, "I'll give you my answer, um, soon, Riku. I-I promise. . ."

He was looking at her, and when she looked up at him she blushed, and he said casually, "Okay."

She looked uneasy. "Just 'okay'?"

"Yeah. . ." Riku shrugged. "What of it?"

"I. . ." She thought she was about to say something outrageous, so she shook her head. "I think I'll be going then, Riku."

"See you later, then." He smiled at her just slightly.

"See you. . .soon, 'kay?"

"Yeah, sure."

As she turned to leave, she stopped, whirled her head back around to him, bent down, about to kiss him, but stopped regretfully. But Riku took her offer and grabbed her arm before she broke away, pulling her down and locking his lips with hers. Almost quickly, Kairi broke off and stared at him with dazed eyes. She backed up slowly, releasing her wrist, waved to him good-bye, and left for real.

Almost feeling stupid for what he did, he mentally slapped himself. Then he sighed, resting his body along the bed, looking up into the ceiling._ 'Why do I always hate when she's gone?' _Riku thought, then mentally slapped himself again because it was obvious. Well, besides the fact it was because he loved her, he just always wanted her there when he felt lonely, which was slightly often.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Please. . .There has to be _some _way. . ."

Naminé had ripped and burned the pages she drew of her and Sora doing _that_, which was part of the cause for Sora to be so ideal about it. She called Sora to try and postpone it or, even better, not do it at all, trying to convince Sora contradictively that it just wasn't time, but the spell she'd brought couldn't rupture that way.

She wanted to cry, to do anything to get Sora to realize she wasn't ready. Why was being drunk so much the cause of her to say and act in such a way to him like a petite slut or something?

What could stop this? Maybe staying under the covers would work. . .Hiding beneath them, she listened to her shaking breath. She decided she'd never come out.

When Naminé heard the slight ping of the doorbell, she knew it couldn't go unanswered, no matter how much she begged it to. She withdrew the covers and reluctantly headed for the door. She extended a pale hand for it, pulling it open and seeing Sora smiling down on her; he wore black pants and shoes but no shirt under his handsome leather jacket.

"Hey, Nam," he greeted, _awfully_ ready to come inside.

"Hi," she muttered, pulling back her smile. "Come in, please. . ."

When she let him in, shutting out the blizzard, she lingered there for a moment. One child later, she knew she'd regret it. . .

"You look sexy," he said loosely to her.

She only smiled halfheartedly, but blushed deeply; she was only dressed in a pink sweater and black pants, but his seductive demeanor she'd put him in made him say such a thing.

Not forgetting Sora was behind her, she told him, turning, "Sit anywhere you'd like."

As he did on the couch, he began to peel the jacket back over his shoulder, but the girl shakily inquired, "Warm up first, Sora."

"Oh, _here's _now I'll warm up. . ." He stood, taking a hand along her waist, the other on her bottom and pulled her in, kissing her, tonguing her.

Naminé moaned, uncomfortable by his touchings, and quickly drew back her lips, trying to glare but could only stagger.

"Oh, I'm rude," apologized Sora, making Naminé blush. "Are you ready, Naminé?"

Screaming in her head no, she replied with the quickest of smiles, "Yes." _To get this done and over with, since I can't find the way to stop him. . ._

After about ten minutes, she and Sora were kissing on Naminé's room floor, Sora doing much of the touching, Naminé moaning a bit too much. She was down to her bra and underwear in clothing, her pink sweater forgotten in a ball close to her bed, her pants tossed over a lonely chair. It hurt to be kissed all over, to taste his tongue for over ten minutes, to have his body so close to her. . .

He opened his eyes and hovered over her asking, "You okay?"

She nodded, but she was wincing under the pain she felt everywhere. He took her by the hand, laying her gently down over her bed, taking the straps of her bra and pulling them down. He reached his hand back over onto his pants and undid his belt, throwing it aside and hearing it clank against the floor. Turning back to his partner, he dove his hand down her bra and felt her chest incessantly. She wanted to scream but moaned loudly instead, taking his hand out from her and taking the other as well. She couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted it to end, for Sora to go back to his former self.

So she cried.

And that did it.

Her tears sent a spark throughout Sora's mind, and he looked dazed for a moment, then looked around.

"Naminé. . ." Then he looked down at her and yelped lightly. "W-What the heck were we just doing?" He looked shocked and she realized she'd broken the spell about him.

"Ah. . ." She couldn't say anything and she cried more, which broke into a sob.

Sora gasped slightly, sitting her up, looking into her eyes sincerely. "Naminé. . .What did I do to make you cry?" He felt blame arouse him.

She hugged him, his bare chest in her face, explaining what she'd done to him, saying it wasn't his fault she'd cried, it was hers, and apologized for what she did. And obviously, he was quick to forgive, but made her promise not do anything like that again, and they pinkie promised.

Sora laughed a little after this was done, they were both dressed and sitting in the living room.

"All this. . .for _all this. . ._?" He vainly pointed to his body.

Naminé only graced a smile, although she was still crying, It felt good to cry—she'd never been able to do it before.

"Naminé, please, stop crying. . ." He murmured gently, brushing the tears away with his soft hands. He cupped his hands around her face, allowing her to look at him. "I promised I. . .wouldn't make you cry."

"I kn-know," she replied softly, sniffling. "I'll try."

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

She hugged him and nodded, her tears subduing, glad because she'd fixed the one thing only a tear could.

-.-.-.-.-

Riku slid a pale, leathery hand down his bleached face, boring holes back into the eyes of himself in the bathroom mirror. He exhaled a ragged, effortable sigh. Breathing almost made him sick now—although, rhetorically, he was. The arsenic must've flown at such a speed that would result in a slow and painful death. Just how Ansem wanted it. But would he really want a heart surrounded with the teeth marks of arsenic _if_ he. . .passed?

Riku hammered his right fist down into the center of the mirror, causing his hand to bounce back, and with it a thousand throbs to his cut arm. He squeezed it along with his eyes to hopefully prevent internal bleeding—which he wasn't really able to feel anyway.

Riku never cried.

Sure as hell wasn't about to start.

If this was Sora—yeah, pretty sure he'd be bawling until his tears ran down the shower drain. Things hit that boy at a more sensetively-emotional level than it did with this one. This must be the punishment for having kissing Kairi. Twice.

At that thought, he grew slightly red in his face. Sure, it was a blast to have done it, but he felt that something was pulling her back from the doors of reality. And that something, he figured, was Sora.

What Riku really wanted was to talk to Sora about her. Maybe then some of the guilt—or whatever other emotions swam in between—would disappear just as his heart was in the middle of doing.

_'Is he still on hold?'_ Riku wondered as he extended bleached hand for it, a slight sting forming around the pads of his fingers as he gripped its sides. He slowly held it up to his ear.

"Sora?"

That was what Riku was about to say. But Kairi beat him to it.

"Hey, Kai," answered Sora somewhat shakily.

"I thought you stopped shortening my name," Kairi clarified tonelessly.

"Actually, I'm still pretty used to it."

Riku couldn't dare speak. He hoped his labored breathing session would hold back long enough to hide the three-way.

"So, what's up?" Sora asked calmly.

"How 'bout you explain to me your current relationship status," Kairi said.

"Status? You mean, me and. . ." He trailed off on purpose. For the sake of Kairi's composure. "It's. . .fine. . ." Sora gulped quietly, feeling Kairi's narrowed, dark expression too ugly for her pretty face from the other line. "Kairi, please listen to. . ."

What halted Sora's speech was Kairi's choked-up, stifled sobs forcing their way into Sora's ears.

Riku bit his lip and scrunched his eyes shut at the burdening sound.

"See, there you go. . .!" Kairi tried to shout through the breaks in her voice. "Calling me by my name. . .You don't care anymore. You want my love to erase from you!"

"But Kai—."

"I _love_ you, Sora. _Still! _You should know how much I've loved you and always will!"

"Kairi, you may not see it, but I_ do_ care. I care enough to be honest with you by saying. . .I've moved on. I'm sorry, but I. . .I don't love you anymore." He exhaled lightly. ". . .Kairi?"

Kairi stopped sobbing, but tears still poured from her eyes. She shook her head in disbelief and slowly, with a series of fumbling clicks, Kairi had hung up. Riku heard Sora sigh somewhat angrily and ended his call. Riku, being the last one on the break-up ride, couldn't believe what went on and dropped the phone from his hand. He didn't pick it up.

Instead, his head ached. His chest burned. His skin stung. He coughed, hardly exhaling the inky blood into his hand. His breath was becoming labored again, but he chose to fight it.

How could Sora just push Kairi to the curb like that? Her love for Sora _was _blinding her—from loving Riku.

_to be continued_


	9. Bleeding Point, Part 2

_Chapter 8: Bleeding Point_

Riku redialed Sora's number using his own cell phone since the hospital one was crap. He wanted to set it straight with Sora—for him to discuss why, after so long, he'd choose now to break Kairi's heart. Riku knew that Kairi was still upset, regardless of what happened between them. And he threw most of the blame (99.9 percent of it) at his best friend.

Riku left the hospital on his own free will, invisibly passing nurses and doctors that didn't give him a second glance, even when he nearly shoved a few. In more ways than one, Riku was beyond pissed.

Taking a cab to Sora's house, he'd get him to spill. Sora hadn't answered halfway through the drive, so Riku redialed for maybe the eighth time. Sora finally picked up.

Sora sounded rather laid back. "Hey, hey, Riku, how are you-."

"Cut the crap!" Riku snapped. He now sounded accusing when he asked, "How could you just sit on your ass all day when you _know _Kairi's upset about what you-."

"Riku, calm down! How'd you know she was upset?"

"Quit dodging questions, Sora! Kairi's in denial of her feelings all because of your-!"

"How is this _my_ fault?"

"Try asking yourself!"

Sora thought for a quick moment, "Riku, did you hear when me and Kairi were talking on the phone?. . .R-Riku?"

Riku cut Sora off this time by hanging up. '_Quit lying to me. . .'_ he thought through gritted teeth, '_and tell me why you ruined me. . .by ruining her. . .'_

"Ah_. . ." _Riku hissed and swore as his chest felt like it was being wrung like a wet towel, twisting in crushing knots.

The cab driver, trying his best to avoid meddling, turned to Riku and asked, "You alright there, kid?"

"I'll be-." He paused and grunted a bit as his heart squeezed again, only smaller, and continued, "I'm fine."

"Havin' relationship troubles with that Kairi girl?" Now it sounded like the cab driver was meddling.

Riku eyed the man from the corner of his veiny eyes, dismissing the subject by saying, "Just take a left and lemme get the hell out."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Sora's known to leave his front door unlocked. That's got to be the dumbest, biggest mistake anyone could ever make. The door took a fast swing to its left, slamming into the wall beside it with a loud and hard _bu-BANG. _

Sora whipped his head around immediately at the sound, turning back and ducking his head as he saw Riku turn sideways to kick the door closed with his heel. Biting his lip in panic, Sora swiftly and quietly darted for a hiding spot—the kitchen pantry—and twisted and held the knob as he pulled it back so that the door would close silently.

"Sora, I know you're in here. . ."

The brunette bit his lip again, attempting to slow his fluttering heartbeat. _'Wait, why is Riku here, anyway?' _Sora asked with more questions following: _'Isn't he supposed to be in the hospital? I tried to ask his condition, but why did he shut me down about Kairi? Why's he so pissed at me? And why am I acting scared, hiding from my __best friend__? I, of all people, should know how to reason with him.'_

Regardless of his brave attempt, Sora gulped hard and fumbled with the doorknob, pushing the door open to scan for Riku, only to find him directly in front of him. Sora bolted in surprise and slowly met the undenying stress in the eyes of his best friend, who didn't even grin.

"Don't think for one _second _you thought you could hide," stated Riku darkly.

"Riku, I'm _sorr—"_

Riku grabbed two fistfuls of Sora's shirt and lifted him up to mere eye level. "I'm _not._ . .buying it."

Sora was failing to try and free himself as he said, "If this is about Kairi, then why should _you _be upset? _She_ should be the one nearly breaking my door in!"

With Sora still hauled, Riku slammed Sora's body into the wall behind him. Getting in his face seemed to give the two 'better' eye contact. "Tell me right now why you just decided to shoot her down like that. I heard what you said to her, Sora: about not loving her anymore? Why, the hell, did you depress her like that?"

"I, just. . ." This was definitely scaring Sora. Riku _never _reached over-boil like this before. Sora could barely get his words to form. ". . .just so-sort of-f-f. . .started falling f-for Naminé and. . .I couldn't r-really see Kairi that m-much, you know? She'd always visit you. . .b-but I didn't. . ." Sora gazed at Riku finally after averting his eyes in the stars, gulping before he finished, "I-I didn't really. . .pay her any attention after that."

"Good start. Now, why don't you love her? If you were so bold as to say it. . ."

"I-I. . .don't. . .I don't know."

Riku sighed heavily and finally released Sora, who landed on his feet and wobbled a little, planting his hands and body along the wall, feeling safe near it.

"You don't know, huh?" Riku asked with mock astonishment. "You see, that's why we agreed for her to dump your sorry ass. . ."

"Oh, _whoa, _wait. _What?_" Sora asked tentatively. "You _told _Kairi to break up with me?"

"Oh, you don't want that now? Thought you were with the girl you nearly got busy with."

"No, shut up and back-track. If you told Kairi to break up with me, then this is all _your _fault! Why the _hell _did you make Kairi _agree_ to that? After what I did to Naminé was a straight-up _accident_?" Sora approached Riku and shoved him, but it was fairly weak compared to Riku's taller, more-built form. "You always try to start things!" He shoved him again.

(uh-oh. Sora's about to get pwned)

Riku turned around and _immediately _rammed Sora into the wall with an overwhelming force, quickly followed by a swift punch in the mouth.

Hard enough to draw blood. . .

A fine red line streamed down the side of Sora's lips. His eyes began to glaze and slightly roll back. He found his center as he brushed a palm across his mouth. He tried to be brave, fearless, even. Unknowingly in vain. "Ow," he murmured, gracing a smile with his pretty teeth, ones in the corner not so pretty waxed red.

"Riku. . .please, I need you to fill me in on what happened with you and Kairi from the past two weeks. It may be the only way we can settle this and. . ."

_'Is it __his __blood?' _asked Ansem in Riku's head.

". . .stop fighting and be best friends again—!"

"No! Shut up!" Riku tried to plug his ears.

"Huh? Riku-?"

Riku's lowered fist was raising as he smothered the other hand over, fighting to pull it back down. "Stop it. . ._now_. . ."

The powerful raising fist struck the poor brunette deep in the gut. Sora nearly choked on the blood from the previous punch and coughed more out, doubling over to his knees, coughing and hugging himself helplessly.

Riku tried not to give in but, as deceitful and tempting (and forceful) as Ansem's words were, they caused Riku's pains to increase, and with that, his rage, which made him hurt his best friend. Inside, he felt guilty, but now Ansem had taken control of his body—arms and legs, heart and pains.

Sora slowly straightened himself, backing away as if Riku's anger was an unbearable force.

"If you don't want me to do that again, then explain right!" Riku shouted with his other fist equally clenched.

"I told you I don't know!" Sora dodged another punch Riku brought forth, and out of reflex, Sora swung back, making Riku's cheek meet Sora's knuckles. "Me and Naminé just seemed to click!"

"Yeah click straight to nearly raping her!" He punched Sora in the chest.

"Quit it!" Sora shouted, returning the favor.

"Nghh. . .!" Riku hissed as a menacing pain exploded through his chest where he was punched. Ansem was twisting Riku's heart like a rubber band.

"Riku. . ." Sora mumbled, concerned, approaching his friend. "Did I hurt you?"

Riku growled as if Sora's voice annoyed him. "I'm breathing, aren't I?"

Sora staggered only a bit, his face distraught. "Riku. . ." he pleaded shakily, "I just want to explain it as best I can. Please don't make this any harder. I didn't mean to hurt Kairi, _really_."

Riku didn't really hear Sora's last sentence as he slowly looked up at him. The two met each others' eyes and, for only a bit, calmed down, but sweetly came Ansem's voice as if near Riku's ears, saying, '_Did you forget that he crushed the girl's heart? Smashed it into fallen pieces, left for _you_ to pick up? Remember the pain this boy made you suffer.'_

Involuntarily, Riku punched Sora where _Ansem_ felt he deserved it—his face. Slow to react as his face met a pair of knuckles, Sora held back his groan of pain until he found out that he couldn't feel his nose, and when he pressed his fingers lightly to it, a crushed pain filled his entire nose—clearly, it was broken. Blood thickly oozed down to Sora's upper lip as he did his best to stop it.

_'Keep his blood flowing. I need to see it,'_ taunted Ansem once more.

"Huh. You don't sound poisoned to me, Ansem," said Riku haughtily, ignoring Sora's eyes squinting in confusion.

_'Gullible fool. If you ever once thought I'd poison you to do the same to myself, think again. Now, aren't you forgetting something?'_

Riku managed to give Sora eyes a little softer and said, "Sora, wipe your nose. 'Cuz I'm not done with you yet. . ."

Inside, Ansem grinned pleasurably. _'Will you release the blood of __him __or__ her__? Oh, I think that's my decision now. . .'_

_'Is this Riku's anger, or the work of Ansem?' _Sora questioned himself. Instead of asking, he gave into Riku's challenge.

"All right," Sora said, grinning readily, leaving himself with a blood-stained sleeve. "If you wanna pound me raw, I'll give you the same. . ." He seemed awfully serious—or tried to in Riku's case.

(don't most epic battles take place outside? yep.)

The snow was really coming down. It gathered and melted periodically in the boys' hair, drizzling their clothing. Riku's cheeks were red more of anger than chill. As for Sora, he definitely froze in the cold spine.

"I don't want to fight," Sora shouted over the wind and ice to Riku a few feet across.

Riku's head remained down. "Hmm. Too bad, because we want to."

"We? Who's—" Riku's head lifted with a grin and. . .one orange eye, one aqua. . . "—oh no, Ansem!" _'I knew it. He took control of Riku. But for what?'_

When Riku made a battle cry, the voice was Ansem only. "Ansem" now charged for Sora, readying a darkness sphere in his hand that turned into an ink-colored sword.

Sharp enough to kill. . .

Tiny tears burned in Sora's as he closed them, bracing himself. . .

Riku's heart beat once.

Then nothing.

The orange left Riku's eyes, so did the sword, the voice, the control. Riku felt loose. Free.

Unsupported.

His aqua eyes rolled back. He fell with a hard _thud_ on the snowy ground.

A tiny voice escaped the once relieved, now terrified brunette. "Ri. . .ku. . ."

Riku let out an agonizing, helpless scream. His breaths were quickened and shortened. He was losing air. He circled along the ground, his feet kicking up snow and dirt deep in the ground, his vision swimming. He clutched his sweater like a teddy bear ready to pop, letting out panicked, one-second gasps and lifted his head and eyes to Sora before his body crashed back to the ground with the stillness of a dropped puppet, his eyes remaining open, blood oozing from his gaped mouth now half-burried in snow.

E.R lights blared and Riku was wheeled into emergency care. Cara happened to ask Sora why he left—even though he wasn't supposed to—and he said, "He had to take care of some important things." Cara was off duty due to the emergency and she was kind enough to properly treat and cast Sora's nose. (he didn't even have to talk nasal. and luckily, he wasn't asked how his nose broke, but he would've answered, "I slipped on ice and fell face-front," just in case)

-.-.-.-.-

_Bzzzz. . .bzzzz. . ._

Kairi, you have: 1 missed alert

_Click._

_"Kairi, you gotta get to the hospital quick! I know you probably don't care that it's me calling you, but Riku had a heart attack! He's in E.R now, but. . .just, please, please get here. . .Bye."_

She listened to the message again. And a third time to test the reality. He didn't sound like he was lying. . .

She grew terrified for Riku, so scared that she nearly fainted from where she stood in her room. If he really had a massive heart attack, then she had all the more reason to go.

Kairi shoved her phone in her pocket, snatched her winter jacket, and sprinted for the nearest cab.

_to be continued_


	10. Fatal Beauty

_A/N: I thank _thedeathchandeleir _for the awesome ideas for this chap! *applauds*_

_Chapter 9: Fatal Beauty_

_'Please God, let him be alright. . .'_

Kairi continued to hum little prayers as the cab came to a (tortuously) slow stop. She paid her toll and zipped out of the cab and to the building door. Running too fast, however, caused her to slip over the black iced concrete. Her body ascended, foot high in the air, and she landed hard on her back, her head taking the worst impact. A hand shot to the back of her skull as she silently, chattered her teeth into a sob, turning her body to her side. She lingered there, letting some snow hit her wind-swept hair. . .before remembering why she'd come.

As she trotted slowly down the halls the clicking of her boots annoyed her troublesome head, but she tried to overpass it. If she hurried, maybe it would erode the pain. So she ran even though her pulsations grew worse.

Room 303. . .305. . .308. . .Sora?

_'Why is he. . .' _The redhead froze timidly.

The brunette was perched in a secluded chair near the door, back hunched over, head shrouded in his hands, his sniffles muffled. Kairi couldn't smell tears like Riku could, but she could definitely _feel _better than any of her two boys. She could feel him crying.

Kairi pat Sora's right shoulder gently. Pretending not to spot her, he turned his head in the opposite direction and began wiping his eyes. He decided to finally face her and studied her eyes, ignoring his falling tears. "Thanks for. . .c-coming." He spoke in a breathy voice.

"Sora, tell me, with every ounce of honesty, what happened." Kairi also spoke like she was afraid of what could be. She crouched next to the chair he was sitting in.

"I'll tell you what," he spoke a little brighter after swiping his knuckles over his eyes again, "you can sit in my lap and talk like we used to." He offered his hand to Kairi, who knit her eyebrows, puzzled.

She used hop into his lap and talk, snuggle, and kiss him. That was when they dated. Although an offer to embrace definitely, she declined, saying awkwardly, "No, it's. . .I'm, okay." Instead, she slid down the wall beside the chair.

Foreshadowing that response, Sora stood up and slid down next to her. "Okay, then I'll sit by you and talk."

He was being persistent, but, now that she thought about it, so was she, when wanting something intimate from him.

Sora released a delaying sigh, unaware of where to begin. When he finally decided, he made it basic. "Me and Riku. . .got into an argument and. . .he ended up having a heart attack—"

"So you weren't lying?" she intruded.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why the heck would I lie about_ that_?"

"Well, you_ did_ lie to me," she replied firmly, lightly distancing herself from him.

"About?" Sora urged, his tone stiff.

Kairi's eyes wandered for a moment until she looked straight ahead. Her cheeks ripening into a warm bright pink, she whimpered, "You lied when you said you loved me. And that we'd always be together, connected in our hearts forever."

Sora puffed irritably, taking less than two seconds to gather words as he glared into the ceiling. "You know what, Kai—and you know it doesn't make hell of a difference what I call you—our hearts are more smushed together than a sandwich, alright? You know how much I care about you. Whether I love you the way you want me to or not won't change that. That doesn't even_ matter_ right now."

He looked at her with tense eyes. She returned his gaze with baffled, yet understanding eyes. "Anyway," he continued, "Riku. . .his heart stopped earlier, after we almost got into a fight. Doctors in the E.R. tried to revive him. After two failed attempts, his heart finally started to beat, but only faintly. Doctors are in his room now. And—you hear that beeping sound?—the docs are testing to see if Riku's heartbeat will remain stable."

"C-Can I go in? Is it, you know, o-okay?" Kairi asked squeamishly.

"I dunno, maybe not."

Kairi stood in her place then dropped her gaze to Sora. "When we can, will you go with me? Please?"

"He probably hates me," he assured her, standing as well. "After what we went through? Trust me, a hundred feet is my safest distance from him."

Kairi formed an offended face. "See, there you go: leaving your best friend like that. After you've _never_ visited him_ once _since he's been in this god forsaken place! For all I know, he must be _grateful_ to you for-"

Sora's chuckling halted Kairi's speech. Kairi opened her mouth angrily to continue, but Sora began, "Kairi, don't you see? There's a side to Riku that only you understand. And a side you've opened up for him to see." He turned to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Open your eyes a little wider and you can see how much Riku loves you."

She overlapped his sentence at the word 'loves,' rebelling, "Stop, don't tell me that! I. . .! Just stop!" She covered her ears desperately.

_'Denial. . .' _Sora thought in the slurred, admitting way. He uncovered her ears and held her wrists. "He opens up to you a lot more, like he did with me before you and I met," Sora continued to press on. "And in the past two weeks, haven't you seen yourself as Riku's comfort zone?"

"I-I. . ." Sora rose one of his eyebrows, wordlessly telling her not to lie in denial. "I have. . .comforted him somewhat. . ." She eyeballed her feet.

Sora grinned at her answer. "Yep. . . I know this may sound cheesy, but, you're the icing on the cake in his book, Kairi."

She couldn't help but giggle at that. The room door opened and three doctors—one of them Cara—exited the room, closing the door behind them.

"His heart is stable now. You two may go in, but shout for any one of us if something happens," a male doctor next to Cara answered.

"We will," answered both the brunette and redhead.

As the doctors walked away, Sora didn't realize his hands slid down and were now in hers. Kairi blushed and smiled affectionately. Sora chuckled in alarm, slowly letting go but letting their fingers brush by each other. He then frowned a bit. In all seriousness, he turned to her. "Kairi, it would be wrong for you to ask me out again. We _both _know that. So, for as long as we've been, I know it'd be best if we just stayed-"

She pushed him against the wall, advancing to him, held his face in her hands, and kissed him hard. Her eyes squinted tight enough to produce little tears in the corners. Her face grew hotter and hotter as she opened her mouth and took in the long-lost taste of his tongue. Forever warm, with a loving taste of strawberry. . .She missed that. So she relished it, hearing him moan in an oh-so familiar way, soft and slurred. . .

Sora somewhat forcefully pushed his ex off of him, panting vigorously."H-Huh? What was. . .that for?" His tone was a stage past breathless. He lightly touched his cast nose, which became sore from Kairi pushing against it with that kiss.

"Friends, was that what you were gonna say?" She wiped her mouth as if he tasted horrible. "Shocked to hear that from you. And it shocks me to say 'I feel the same way.' We're friends. Once more, now nothing less." Kairi gripped the doorknob. She stopped before entering and spun around. "If you don't wanna see him, 'lest you be hated,' then I'll call you later and tell you what happens. 'Kay?"

Bit by bit, Sora nodded. "Yeah. . .sure. I'll be waiting." He turned on his heels and began to walk away, letting out a small, slightly overwhelmed sigh.

Kairi's eyes accompanied him, but for only a few seconds. Her mind set itself on Riku only now. She opened the door, taking wide steps of an entrance, holding her breath in case he would either be angry or hurt.

Riku was quiet except for the slight hisses of pain he made. His eyes were closed and his skin still a sickly ivory. She approached him and stopped by his bedside. standing this time, without her usual chair. She placed the back of her hand on his forehead, which was in cold sweat. She did the same to his cheek, which also lacked its true luster. Riku groaned quietly, his eyes trying to shut more. His hand was clutching at his sweater where his chest was (yes, he's still in his clothes, and the A/C is on). Kairi suspected that his heart ached, physically and emotionally.

She checked his heart monitor, which stood adjacent to the opposite side of the bed. After each one and a half-second, a faint _beep _came on, soft like it was muffled by a mound of feathers. After that she looked upon Riku again, then placed her hand over his at his chest. She closed her eyes and felt something strange. His heartbeat began to quicken. Uncontrollably.

Riku yelped and cringed agonizingly. His forehead began sweating warmly now. He pressed the back of his other hand over his still-closed eyes. "Make it. . .stop. . ." he whispered dryly, desperately.

Was Riku . . .crying?

Kairi gasped as she heard a sinister laugh fill the room. Her eyes narrowed and her head wandered in search of the mastermind. _'That must be Ansem,' _she thought. "Come out of Riku's heart!" she cried into the air.

_'And if I refuse?' _Ansem taunted.

"Then I'll. . ." She hesitated. This wasn't like their journey when "the light from within" could break the darkness loose. This was normal life again.

But. . .her light could still be deep in her heart. . .

". . .If you don't leave his heart, I'll light it up and burn you out!" she burst out with maybe too much confidence.

_'Can you? This is no fairytale, girl; you can't simply just wield a magic wand or play the role of a prince and princess to make me leave. What do you suggest?_'

Kairi stared at her feet, absorbing Ansem's question. She only glanced at Riku before closing her eyes again. "I'll help Riku through to find that answer. I'll help him to get rid of you. However long it takes." She opened her eyes and battered her lashes, trying to get her tears to well back down. "And if I'm too late, and you get your wish," she continued in a broken voice, "then you can take me along with him."

Ansem gladly accepted her offer. _'Very well. But mark my words: He __will __die. . .in a matter of days.' _After that, his voice faded away.

Kairi kept her game face on, but deep down, she was frightened. _Days _could be as soon as tomorrow or over the weekend, which started Christmas break. They weren't given all the time in the world. . .

Riku turned his body and face over, letting out ragged coughs. A trail of dark blood ran down his lips, which stained a corner of his pillow. Some of his hair fell over his eyes, which covered his tear-tracked cheek. Kairi felt his tears, his anguish, his pain . . .Well, maybe not his pain, since he was suffering nights alone, expecting the worst at times, wondering and wishing things to return to normal or get better.

She re-approached his bedside, cleaned away the blood from his mouth with a napkin, tucked his hair behind his soft ear using her fingers, and brushed with her thumb his wet tear trail. And she was gentle with all these things. Slow, patient, and tender care gave Riku's eyes the safe cue to open. They were such a nice icy blue.

"K-Kai . .r-ri. . ." he muttered, his voice thin. He sat up slowly, cringing at his squeezing chest pains. His eyes widened at the sight of himself in the mirror on the right wall. "Oh God, look at me. . ." he said in disbelief. "I look. . .not myself."

"Riku," Kairi began, meeting his eyes. Her face reddened as tears filled her eyes, but she didn't care.

"Kairi, please. I don't want to see you cry anymore." Riku's voice returned to normal. "I'll get through this. I just need a week to-"

"You don't _have_ a week, Riku!" she shouted and tears descended like a faucet. "Ansem says he'll kill you in a matter of days-"

"And you've got the nerve to believe that. . .conniving douche bag?" Riku asked, all joking aside. "Lying is one of many tricks he's got up his beastly sleeve. He's even got the guts to tell me your blood will help me through this."

"We don't have the same blood type-"

"Well,_ duh_. If he lies about that, he lies about everything. _I_ depend on how long I live for. . .don't I?" He was looking at his sheets when he asked this, Kairi slowly deciding to answer.

"You do. It's your life. And you have friends. . .that'll help you." She struggled to look at him, noticing him turning his head as he sensed her, feeling a little awkward. "Me and Sora. . .We're here for you."

"I know," Riku grumbled. "But I just wanted to get through this-" He paused and grunted at his excruciating pain for a moment, "-by. . .myself. . ."

"_Why_, Riku? Huh? Why, when someone reaches out their hand for you, you draw back and try to stand yourself up? You know you need help, so what's stopping you from allowing it?"

He was thoughtlessly soundless. Kairi brushed warm tears from her red cheeks. She tucked a dampened strand of hair from her face back behind her ear, waiting.

"Okay, honestly," Riku began with a small, self-assured grin, "Kairi, you exceedingly overwhelm me. You're thoughtful, your breath-taking, you're. . .beyond gorgeous. But those aren't flaws, or characteristics. Those things that make you who you are are gifts. And I feel as if I don't deserve them. And that's why I can't get help from anyone, not even you. I don't deserve it. Not one bit."

Kairi slowly shut her mouth after it formed a small _o_. Her tears completely dried up. She wasn't sad anymore; she was bewildered.

"And again. . .why? Why must you 'deserve' something like that? People do stuff for you out of _the courtesy of their hearts._ They don't need reasons. I've spent the past _two weeks_ visiting you every day after school. Did you have to 'deserve' that? No. I did it because I _knew_ I had to-"

"See, I_ knew_ you were gonna say that, Kairi. You 'knew you had to.' There's no courtesy in that at all. Something deep down forces you to do something for someone _just _because it feels you have to or you'll regret it. What's the real reason you come visit me, huh? Because we're friends? Or-"

"Don't _or _anything. I know where this is going." She rose her voice accusingly. "You want my 'real reason' to be 'because I love you,' right!" She paused briefly to test his reaction, which was silence, but his eyes didn't falter. "Well, here's one thing you don't have to worry about anymore: me loving Sora. Okay? Because me and him are over. Just friends. _Just _the way I know you've _always _wanted it to be. My reason for coming here may be unknown, but I can assure you it will _never _be the reason you want it to, I say again. Never."

"And _I _say again, do you really, _really _think that, Kairi?"

Without a comeback, Kairi gasped a little. Unreasonably, she shook he head, preparing to walk out the door. She felt Riku's hand tightly grip her wrist and stopped.

"Answer my question this time," he ordered, "and look at me."

Déjà vu all over again. She wasn't going to repeat her words about his 'mean and dark' eyes when, she admitted mentally, she liked them a lot. She obeyed his requests and answered, "Don't believe everything you hear." Not letting him speak, she continued, "Words will always hurt, and I know they probably did. And I'm sorry. Riku, you told me I had to mean it in saying that I love you. Right now, I don't mean it. And you shouldn't talk me into it like you just tried to."

Riku nodded. "Understandable." He released her arm. "Aren't you gonna leave?"

She turned to the clock by the desk. It read 12:13 A.M. "I'm gonna have to if I'm gonna stay up in school tomorrow—well, I should say 'today.' I'll be back the same time as usual."

She gave Riku a sudden look when he pulled back his covers, turned his feet across the bed, and shakily stood.

"What are you getting out of bed for!" she cried, somewhat panicked. "Your heart is in no condition for you to leave."

"Relax. I just needed to stretch my legs a bit." When he saw how close she was to him and how she placed her hands on his shoulders to straighten him, he ran a hand through her hair. She eyeballed him wide. "I just needed to give you a closer look."

"Then I'll get you a magnifying glass," she joked, faintly cracking a smile. Part of her brain told her to step off and the other part told her to give in.

Riku didn't even ask for it. He didn't imply his desires using his eyes. Kairi just did it on her own just like the first time. She wound her arms tenderly around his neck, her fingers ascending into his silky hair. She parted her lips as she moved her face closer to his, fluttered her eyes to a close, felt their noses touching, followed by their lips.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Soft white lights along the walls of the hospital exposed the lulling slowness of the late snowfall. Sora, watching the white dots melt into water on the neutral concrete, made a difficult effort to forget what had happened. Thoughts of the snow intertwined with thoughts of his friends. _'The snow is lovely when it falls like this. It's soft, and it tells me, "Stay calm." But now, I can't seem to listen to that. Riku's probably still all heartsick and hates me, and Kairi's finally over me. . .That's good, I guess.'_

A white cloud of air replaced his cheerless sigh that slipped into the dark hour.

The corners of his eyes burned from the blazing white headlights of the tawny square cab that turned around and started down the road. From the back window of the cab, he could see Kairi's velvety red hair. She wasn't turned around, so Sora could guess that she didn't take a moment's notice of him.

But it was he who didn't notice her. Kairi had seen him when she came out from the hospital, but, seeing him so far away from the door, she didn't bother him by offering him a ride or whatnot. He'd looked so deep in thought that she felt it would be rude anyway. In the cab, she was pretending not to notice by keeping her eyes ahead. She needed to get home and prepare for bed. She still had to go to school for yet another day.

After the cab disappeared, Sora again boxed himself in sulky thoughts. He blinked away frigid tears and dabbed away some snowflakes that stayed on his lashes. The weather was stinging his gloved fingertips. He shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets, finding hardly any warmth. It felt like an hour had passed as he continued to linger there, freezing like a snowman. He wasn't in the mood for re-entering the hospital.

But it usually takes one person to change someone's mood from depressed to surprised, shocked, and confused.

Naminé showed up.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kairi hung her jacket neatly on the steel coat rack. She stuffed her wool gloves into her wool hat and lazily dropped them next to the base of the rack. The inside of her dark house was toasty and quiet. She flicked on a lamp that lit her whole downstairs corridor, feeling life return to her living space. She plopped in her rocking recliner, which creaked as she leaned back, swaying rhythmically. She fiddled with her turtleneck collar on the white fleece sweater she was still wearing.

_'Are my hormones outta whack? I kissed Riku __again. __These were lips from a girl who just got done nearly sucking her ex's face. But. . .Riku doesn't know that. I can't tell him that, nor that I love him. Cuz I don't. I can't. I shouldn't.'_

She would have to come up with her answer soon. Riku's condition was worsening and if she waited too long, she was sure he would die before her answer reached his ears.

Smacking a palm across her forehead, she disposed of that thought. She needed to clear her head as well as soothe away her headache. She went upstairs and took a cool shower, slipped on pink pajamas, and entered her room with a cup of warm lemony tea, which helped lull her to sleep.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Naminé?"

The petite girl dressed in silky white winter apparel nearly dashed out from her white convertible. She clip-clopped her way to his side, then stopped, panting almost noiselessly.

"What brings you here?" Sora asked slowly.

"An acquantance of yours told me that Riku was hurt, Kairi was heartbroken, and you were out here, sitting so somberly. . ."

_The cab cruised down the road, the windows glazed icy, the roof battered silently by heavily-falling snow._

_Kairi fiddled with her phone contacts, scrolling down until she reached Sora's. She'd entered his as #1 on her speed dial. _Of course_. Even if they were broken up, but even if they were still friends, a fire in her throat urged her to delete his number. Her finger sweating and shaking at the "Erase" option, she chewed on her lower lip. She angrily squealed and hit the "Back" button. _

_Scrolling again through her contacts she found Namin_é's _number and called it._

_"Hello, this is the new Naminé, sober and independent. Is that you, Kairi?"_

_"Y-Yes," Kairi answered shakily. "You haven't been drinking?"_

_"I've quit. I won't be drinking anymore for as long as I live, I swear."_

_"I believe you. . ." Kairi leaned her forehead against the cold glass window. "Can I talk to you about something Nam?"_

_"Sure. What is it?"_

_"Well, I just got back from visiting Riku in the hospital. . .he got hurt again. . .and I. . .met up with Sora along the way."_

_"I'm listening."_

_"A-And I just wanted to know. . .i-if. . .Did you and Sora. . .do it?"_

_There was a pause. Namin_é _was shaking, her mouth forming a circle. She sighed, ran a hand through her hair, and returned to her call. "I was able to stop him. . .by crying. The spell broke and we stopped. I didn't want to do it anymore, so I started bawling like a baby. . .Funny, huh?"_

_Kairi forced a chuckle from her burning throat. "Heh, yeah. Are you, y'know, glad?"_

_"Yes, very. I couldn't force Sora into something I myself wasn't ready for. That'd be wrong. . ."_

_"You want to see him?" Kairi asked out of the blue._

_"What?"_

_"I saw Sora waiting outside the hospital. He seemed to be thinking. He also looked sad, but I had my share of tears. So you. . .wanna comfort him a little?" In her mind, Kairi was pleading desperately that she'd say yes._

_After a brief pause, Namin_é_ answered_, _"Okay. I'll try and comfort him. Can you just give me the address of the hospital?"_

_"Sure. And Naminé? Thanks for being there for him, and me. At least he's got someone to like right after I dumped him, and I'm glad to have a friend to talk to if I need a little advice."_

_Kairi could practically hear Naminé's grin forming on her pink lips. "Anytime, Kairi. See at school tomorrow."_

"And she was very specific on making sure I got here. And I just wanted to be here to wash all the worries away." She sounded a little uneasy when she said that last sentence.

Sora looked away from her, staring into the brick wall. "Naminé. . ." What should he say? That she shouldn't have bothered coming here, wasting away 30 minutes of gas? Or that she couldn't even try to sweeten his "somber" mood?

Instead, he pushed those thoughts aside and continued, ". . .Thanks for coming. I kinda. . .needed to be comforted by someone like you."

She blinked in wonder. "Really? Kairi couldn't comfort you at all?"

Sora's cold red cheeks turned even redder. "No, she. . .kinda bailed on me. . ."

"Sora. . ." She tugged on his coat sleeve."Tell me what's wrong."

"_Okay,_ okay." He sighed somewhat irritably. "I'm a little overwhelmed that Kairi's completely over me after nearly squishing my nose while kissing me. And every time Kairi visits Riku, I feel as if I'd just be interfering. I'm guilty that I haven't even turned back into that building and paid him at least _one _damn visit. I think I crushed my best friend's only chance at being in love with my ex by just being caught in the middle of the circle of Riku's arsenic poisoning, my permanent breakup with Kairi, and Kairi's uncertainty of her feelings. _That's _why I'm so freaking upset right now."

Naminé nodded speechlessly. She turned away and swiftly rubbed her eyes. She shrouded her nose in her scarf, muffling her already quiet sniffles.

"Nam, I know you're crying."

She hugged herself miserably, closing her wet eyes. Sora held her close from behind, wrapping his arms over her shoulders and rocking her gently.

"How did I bring you to tears?" Sora asked remorsefully. He placed his chin on her shoulder so he could hear her answer.

"It's my fault, too, Sora. If I hadn't interfered, you and Kairi would still be together, and Riku wouldn't have had to fight you and end up in the state he's in. Think about it. . .I'm the reason you're drowning in that 'circle.'"

"_No, _you're not. I brought this on myself. I chose to break up with Kairi. You had nothing to do with my decision, Nam." He planted a light kiss on her temple. "Don't ever blame yourself. This didn't start because you had feelings for me. . .because. . .I had them, too."

"Sora. . .You can't say. . .You liked me while. . ."

"It took a minute, but. . .Yeah. Since I dated Kairi, I've had slight feelings for you, too."

"Oh, Sora. . .!" She broke away from their embrace. "This is wrong! I _caused_ you to have feelings for me. Feelings you shouldn't have! They're out of _my _selfishness!" She dove both hands across her face and wiped away hot tears.

When she looked up at him, the only thing she felt were his lips on hers.

Her crystal blue eyes dilated. _'Why?'_

Sora hugged the girl as if she was about to vanish. _'I love. . .this girl right in front of me. More than anyone!'_

He slowly, reluctantly pulled away, immediately placing a finger to her lips, stopping her strained sounds attempting to speak. "Naminé, it doesn't matter about where or when or how. I love you. I want to date you, not to 'get over' Kairi. I've moved on and I just want to be with you. Will you let me?" He lowered his finger from her mouth and allowed her to speak.

". . .I-I will if you promise to not let the past bring you down." She smiled at him sweetly. "I want you to be happy. Okay?"

A grin finally climbed from its grave to Sora's lips. "I promise."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Kairi, I wanna. . .be. . .real with you about. . .something. . ." Riku asked on Friday, the 18th.

Kairi set down her pencil and notebook neatly on the tile floor. "Yep?"

"I want to. . .know your. . .honest reasons for. . .things. Like. . .the last. . .time you kissed me."

Kairi wasn't glaring nor was she shocked. She_ expected_ him to wonder why she did things for him and to him, like a kiss. If he didn't, then she'd been doing those things in vain. "I honestly do it because I don't ever want to leave. Sure, this place has its good sides, but I do know you get lonely here after I leave. I don't like having to leave with you feeling that way, so I just do something that'll keep a smile on your face all night."

Riku grinned just a little. "Thanks. . .for the. . .honesty."

Riku adjusted the long and clear tubes around his arms and chest, bringing the one hanging near his neck to his mouth. He inhaled as deeply as he could, taking in the artificial air and replenishing it in his body. The reasons for his pauses were of lack of oxygen. Now, every two seconds, Riku would receive a thick heartbeat for a two-second's breath.

What was the arsenic waiting for? Why did it seem like it was going easy on him?

Kairi tried to compose a smile over her worries. "Did you get all the answers to the questions?"

"Yep." One-worded answers were easy on his breathing.

"Even the extra-credit question?"

"M-hm."

"Trigonometry's hard, huh?"

"Not as hard. . .as Algebra II."

Without reason, Kairi took his large Trig book and set it on the floor. "Hey, don't push yourself to speak. Those doctors said you need to-"

"They said. . .I need. . .to keep calm and. . .use the tube of-t-ten. . .not become a mime, Kairi." He grinned reassuringly, his lips brittle. "I'm fine."

Kairi simply nodded.

A day and a half have passed and Riku's condition was critical; his life was draining by heartbeats. A slow and painful death. More like a liquefied hell for Riku that Ansem was bringing.

Kairi suddenly felt a hand on her face. Riku's shaky, frigid, sheet white hand. She touched it in response, locking his dull eyes with her oceanic ones.

His voice was light, like a whispering wind, moistureless, like thirsty soil. "I love you, Kairi. . ."

Why did she feel as if those words were his. . .

Riku's eyes drooped shut. His hand dropped lifelessly from Kairi's face.

Why was the heart monitor making that endless sound?

"No. No! No, Riku. . ." Her index and middle fingers of a hand shot to his neck, feeling around for that one _living _beat.. No pressure was felt underneath her fingerpads.

"Please don't. . .do this. . ._Please!_"

Her quaking hands clawed at his shoulders and shook him vigorously- he wasn't responding. She felt like she'd have her own heart attack, her breaths breaking and her gasps highly audible. Her feet failed her, causing her to trip and barely land into her chair. One shout was the alert the doctors needed. . .

"RIKU!"

* * *

_to be continued_


	11. Lullabies in the Snow

_Chapter 10: Lullabies in the Snow_

Ansem was right: only a day and a half had passed since his threats for Riku to die. His pulse was unresponsive. No breath escaped his mouth or nose; his limbs were inanimate at his sides. As she scanned his face fixedly, she could almost count how many scaly, dry cracks aligned the surface of his raw, inadequate skin. Boring her irises into his fastened ones, she knew she was deterred of those alluring icy blue eyes.

Kneeling at his side, she was. Where she said she'd always be. But she didn't want to mean it _literally. . . _

So was he. . .

_'Riku is. . .dead?' _Kairi had eyes for a no, which deemed to be a senseless likelihood.

She mounted her gaunt, knee-knocking legs, preferring not to shred her focus from Riku. But the E.R. room's tone secretly aggravated her. So for possibly the third time, she turned around to let her eyeballs saunter the rest of the room.

Edginess littered itself in individual bearings, like the room around: how its inconvenient space languished in a dispirited black; but in the center: a cluster of lucidity and a secluded victim's table at the room's heart; the achromatic beacons were targeted closest at Riku's bare chest, outlining his drab skin, providing a somewhat angelic glow.

At her right, doctors were preparing the machines to return a heartbeat. She already familiarized herself with the crisp, choppy clatters of the accelerating static. The heart monitor agonized her head as it continued to make that _endless beeping noise. _She quivered gently and nestled herself, striving to stay poised, but found it too intolerable to conduct.

"We're going to need for you to wait outside, Kairi."

Astounded still, her eyes scrunched and her focus gone, Kairi took no notice of the male doctor's order. "Kairi, did you hear me?" He mildly set a hand on her shoulder.

Kairi bolted a bit, even at his feathery touch, surveying him with trivial blue eyes. Her teeth chattering from either fear or the cold room, she responded with a listless, "I-I h-heard."

The doctor tenderly guided her out and closed the door behind him. Kairi sidestepped to peek at the window yet to be curtained shut, which displayed what went on inside. Seeing her, however, another doctor approached the window and began to draw the snowy drapes, nodding at Kairi apologetically.

Pessimistic, she was. His chances of death looked to be inevitable. She sank to her knees and skid her hands down the wall under the window until they swung into her lap.

"Well, Ansem, you got your wish. Now, why am I still here? I said you could get rid of me if he died. . ."

_'And you want to know why I don't agree to your wish?'_

"Why?" Kairi asked, unafraid, expectant of Ansem's response.

_'It's not your heart I want. It reeks with that light. Your poor innocent Riku has the heart of light and darkness. Or should I say: __used __to.'_

"There's something I can do! I know I can help him somehow. . .Maybe I can. . ." She gasped, jumping to her feet. "LET ME IN!" She clobbered the porcelain door and demanded access inside. "LET ME IN NOW!"

The door opened a crack and a female doctor muttered, "I'm sorry, but you really shouldn't-"

"Agh! _P-Please!_ He needs me in there, can't you see?" She continued to battle stubbornly at the door-opening with the doctor. "He's in love with me. It's the _least_ I can do!"

That sent enough of the slightest touch of sympathy in the woman. So she reluctantly obliged, saying, "Just, please, don't shout anymore, okay? We need to concentrate." She opened the door and stepped aside for Kairi to enter. "You may come in."

"Thank you," Kairi whispered, her eyes itching with invisible tears long needed to be shed.

Kairi tried to camouflage into the dusky ambiance using her hushed strides as she approached a corner, meek fingers as they nervously tried to entwine, and her curiously-stricken eyes waning in assurance.

The doctors bordered Riku's table, hindering Kairi's view. Let down more than she already was, she refused to struggle to see what the doctors were preparing to do.

"Clear!" a doctor exclaimed not loudly, but not softly either, and pressed down two handled plates onto Riku's chest. The plates made a _pop _sound as it caused Riku's chest to lift and quickly resume to immobility. The doctors repeated the process and increased the static, awaiting a more vivid response. Still _nothing. . ._

Kairi summoned enough valor to approach the ring of doctors and ask, "Can I try and help?" One nurse refused, trying to persuade Kairi to go back to where she was, but Kairi's eyes were too pleading, too fretful to deny. It slightly shocked Kairi to finally hear a yes from them, and they stepped aside.

She didn't know anything. . ._doctor-like_. . .and wasn't going to ask. Then why even approach this pallid, broken figure, her best friend? It was to cup a reassuring hand around his chilled face, flinching a bit- it felt _past_ frostbitten- just before adjusting to its touch.

She _had to _believe in herself and Riku - he was going to be okay. Bending over him, she held her breath and brushed her warm, full lips against his coarse, glacial ones.

Steadily, the air felt a little warmer, crawling toward traces of life. She corked all noise like the annoying statics and beeping of the machines, processing only the sounds of her lips taking in Riku's as she moved her head left and right, begging, pleading, craving _some kind of response. _

"Answer me. . ." she whined between the kiss. The feel of his tongue - unmoved - slightly made her moan as she continued to press her lips to his. "Mmph, please. . ."

This only continued for another mere ten seconds, for Kairi felt the need to stop before the kiss drove her mad. Reluctantly, she drew back her lips with much aching slowness, hoping to open her eyes and see his open as well.

_N o t h i n g . . ._

"You have to answer me, Riku. You can't just _lie there _and _not answer me!" _She was right at his face as she asserted this in vain. She backed up a little and whimpered, biting her lip and shedding tears; she felt forsaken by her friend's unresponsiveness and flustered from producing the only noise in the room. "I thought kissing you would help. . .I wanted to prove Ansem wrong! What can I do!" Water droplets plummeted down from her face to his, some shattering off, some rolling down, others beading like sweat along his cheeks and nose.

Kairi knew better. Se knew she wasn't supposed to expect him to awaken from the 'kiss of life.' She wasn't the Princess whose turn it was to swoop down from horseback in a windswept cape and save her beloved Prince. . .though she still wasn't sure she felt that way towards him. . .

"Listen to me and wake up, Riku. . .I. . ."

_'Wake up, Riku,' _a low-toned voice asserted smoothly.

Riku's eyelids unfolded and his aquamarine irises scattered around inky space. His voice submerging from beneath his tuneless gullet, he breathed each word achingly, "Where am I. . .?" before realizing he wasn't really awake.

His ears grasped the faintest sound of a. . .heartbeat? After a shadow several, several moments, he heard it again- indeed, it was a heartbeat- of the same volume, if not _fainter. . ._

"This is my. . .heart. . ." he accomplished speaking louder. "But, why is it so," he paused a bit, tilting his head skyward into the nothingness, "devoid of light?"

_'Now, do you see what your heart is truly made of?'_

"Dammit, I've had enough of your tricks, Ansem! Get yourself and this arsenic the hell outta my heart!" He choked his fingers into a whitening fist, expecting his enemy's witty response.

But no words rang through his ears from Ansem's invisible lips. Riku growled, clenching and unclenching his fist. Obviously Riku didn't expect Ansem to listen to his demand; but he was fed up with it all.

What was Ansem waiting for, then? What was his motive?

"Gyaah!" Unexpectedly, a thousand knots began to tighten within Riku's chest; he pinched the skin of his bare chest into a nearly unbreakable grasp, lowering his head and grinding his teeth together. The 'background' began to crack above, soon snaking the scene around Riku, the black shattering into a dreamless grey. Riku dropped and landed feet-first onto a strange white battlefield that appeared. Black steam lingered throughout the air.

Searching for the enemy delayed itself as Riku heard awkward, yet familiar whispers rolling in his ears.

_"Riku. . ." _Kairi's voice?

_"I'll give you my answer soon, Riku." _Kairi's voice!

_'I just don't know if I should love him.' _Kairi's. . .thoughts?_ 'He can wait- forever, if he has to- for me to say yes. . .or no.' _

_'No, Riku's just a friend! He won't be anything more, probably ever! I can't love him!' _Those were indeed. . .Kairi's thoughts.

How should he be feeling right now? Hopeless? Disappointed? Grief-stricken?

Ha, no.

In reality, he felt _right._

"I can't expect her to willingly return my feelings. I just knew it." He let himself chuckle despite of himself. "So why do I even waste my precious breath on the impossible?"

_'Impossible, you say? Like freeing your heart from my binding?' _That snake's voice finally had guts to return.

"Show yourself if you're not a coward, Ansem!" Riku shouted above his head.

A small, inky pool encircled his feet. Riku dropped his gaze and bolted from the circle as if it scorched his soles, staggering before he screeched his left heel to retain balance. Instinctively, he drew his weapon.

_'Your weapon channels darkness. I do recall that you __loathe __darkness, don't you?' _Ansem ascended from the dark pool, which disappeared as he made a taunting and slow tread toward his adversary.

"Tch, shut up! Within my hatred of darkness, I utterly loathe _you_!" Riku darted forward, raising his weapon back, and attempted to spear it into Ansem. But expectantly, Ansem disappeared on contact.

"I hope you have a better attack pattern than that," Ansem teased, extending a hand and releasing a blast of dark wind, smirking as Riku tottered unintentionally.

The dark's putrid redolence came to be fully intoxicating for Riku. He fancied stoppling his nose, but, as he rose a hand about to do so, he snuffed something far more gratifying.

The scent of Kairi.

He'd stroked her face seconds before he died. The airy scent of moonlit seashells floating in the ocean, or a warm tea honeyed just right. It was safe to say that she was standing beside him. He gave his hand a quick squeeze as if savoring the last drop of Kairi he had.

"I can't lose. Not as long as I have your guidance, Kairi." He lowered his hand from his nose, lifting his weapon. "Ansem!" Riku challenged, glowering resentfully.

Ansem nodded smugly. "I see that you'd like to challenge me. Try as you will; you'll just die again. But this time, _permanently._"

Riku chose to defer to Ansem's sentence, masking his nerves with one jagged swallow.

Ansem beckoned an unconvincing number of Heartless as offensive; Riku breezed through slashing them to ashes. But that provided Ansem with enough time to absorb dark strength and sculpt into a glimmering sword.

Was it the same one Ansem make Riku summon when earlier he was his pawn?

Waving off that feckless thought, he listened as Ansem lifted his hand and barked, "I will fight with a style much like your own. But I do have rules in this challenge. . ." Ansem made an unnecessary pause. "There will be no summoning other forms of darkness, just your weapon." He smirked a bit now, biting bitter laughter. "I vow to do the same, boy. It's do or die. Strike my core, and I, and your poison, shall leave. However, if _I _am the one to make you fall-"

"I _get it_," Riku interrupted as if this was kid stuff. "I'll die if you strike just right. No need to get cocky." Riku rose his sword hand higher, and with the other, curled his fingers inward, outstretching his arm. "Let's go."

Ansem careened into Riku's standstill, offsetting Riku from a direct hit. Jumping his feet around a bit, Riku became just inches shy of losing his neck, for Ansem won in grazing it just above his collarbone. Riku winced, scrunching an eye shut, pinching his lone hand at the prick of the wound, dark ruby blood becoming pasty at his fingertips.

"Dammit," he whispered, now coughing minimal, the taste of lead filling his mouth.

Ansem didn't pity Riku's flesh-wound. He quickly mounted his feet and pounced to strike again. Riku was quicker this time, ducking Ansem's horizontal slash- this time millimeters from the crown of his head. Riku elbowed Ansem in the chest, knocking him aside with the hilt of his sword.

Riku could've ended it _there_. . .What stopped him?

"Why're you going so easy on me, Ansem?" Riku shouted, taking cautious steps back. "You could kill me right now!"

Ansem grinned at that last statement. "You wonder? Do you really wish for me to express to you my true capabilities?"

"Go ahead!" Riku threatened, his eyebrows twitching in longing.

Ansem lifted his palm above his head, dark spheres accumulating in his hand and sword. Obviously having broken the vow he made, he sneered as Riku began to do the same- channeling ebony fire and launching it at Ansem. It deflected and extinguished into the air.

The growing spheres fixed themselves like gloves in Ansem's hands, which he now stretched out in front of him. The power shot out and homed in on Riku; raising his weapon vertically, he tried to block the continuous strength from reaching him. The force was winning, pushing Riku back, his legs and feet being hammered endlessly. Counting down in his head, Riku's legs quickly gave out; the dark power launched straight for him.

It struck him in the eyes, and what a strike. . .

Shaded, oozing glue attacked his eyes whole and set aflame inside of his sockets. It was too unbearable to scream about; it frightened him not to scream. He let out hot, breathy yelps and winces, but that was it. The power penetrated into his sockets, and Riku felt his eyes desperately thirst.

Worst of all. . .

_. . .he couldn't see._

"Wha-?" He waved a hand affront his face, but couldn't even see a shadow of it.

"Darkness blinds not only the heart, but the eyes as well," the Heartless daunted. "Now, you will see- or _won't _see, h-hmm- how you will die!"

Ansem _sounded _like he was absorbing more energy. Riku used that time to plan.

_'Kairi, tell me what I should do.' _Riku pleaded Kairi's sugary voice to satiate his thrashing ears.

Mild, creamy fingers touched Riku's arm. In his night vision, Riku could see her. _He could see Kairi._

Riku's lips withered at the sight of her perfect form; her velvet skin, her nectar lips. His desires bit at him to hug her, kiss her, touch her in response. . .

. . .But he couldn't touch her. He felt her, but as he extended a hand forth, it slipped past. Her light rejected his darkness.

_'I'm right here, Riku,'_ her voice said, but her lips weren't moving. _'You can do this.'_

Riku chuckled as he said, "Anything else you wanna say?"

_'Riku,' _her voice started to continue_, 'I-'_

The sugar turned to salt as Ansem's laugh intruded Riku's ears. His vision resumed to nightfall, which he frowned at.

"Try and find me," Ansem taunted.

Riku grimaced as he felt blood trickle down his back and soak the surface of his skin. As if in the same second, blood ran down his upper arm as a lengthy gash surfaced. More and more scars, scrapes, and gashes formed about his body, drenching his pants, legs, arms and neck. The blood loss caused him to pant, tepid dew forming on his forehead, which also became injured.

Ansem was cutting him, but Riku couldn't see where he was coming from. It seemed to happen in all directions, and Riku couldn't hear the winds from Ansem's supposedly-quick strikes.

So Riku used his next best sense: smell.

"His darkness is much stronger than before. It has a sharper, more sickening smell," Riku acknowledged. He rubbed his fingers together and felt his blood having already hardened. "And so does my blood."

He let his nose be his eyes as he sniffed the air deeply. Ansem was. . .above! Having gathered the perfect amount of darkness into his weapon, Ansem targeted Riku dead-center.

"Now, you will die!" Ansem bellowed and swooped down like a falling object, preparing to spear his sword into Riku. . .

. . .until it was Riku who'd done just that.

Darkness the consistency of liquid oozed and sputtered from Ansem's gaping mouth, some dotting the sides of Riku's face. Ignoring them for now, Riku took a good look at his enemy, whose eyes were going completely white. The Heartless emblem on his chest had been punctured and spitting black-blood. Riku looked down at his own chest and realized Ansem's weapon was fairly three inches from piercing his own heart; it was _almost _unfair.

But winning was fair game here.

"You've won. . .this time," Ansem choked, to Riku's surprise. "But if. . .your darkness tends to increase, I. . .I will re-" He was silenced before finishing as Riku tore his sword from Ansem's hollow, non-existent heart.

"I'll make sure you'll never remind me of your _disgusting _scent," Riku muttered, regarding Ansem dissolving into a disappearing black substance.

Above Riku, as he was still inside his heart, was a clod of solidified arsenic that burst into nothing. Riku felt his skin tighten, regain color, and his wounds close as if non-existent. His eyes were rid of the blinding dark, clearing his vision like refreshing water. Just then, he felt himself go limp, his head feeling overweight for his neck, and he succumbed to night vision once more. . .

Sapped of even being able to stand up, Kairi had crashed onto Riku's chest; around her, doctors confirmed that she'd overworked herself on such a mental note that it exhausted her physically. Suddenly, the endless beeping had steady breaks in between. One doctor exclaimed, "Hey, guys! We've got a signal! Riku's breathing!" They all rejoiced, pumping their fists up as if raising glasses for a toast; Cara tapped the shoulders of both Riku and Kairi, whispering between one of their ears, "Wake up, Kairi and Riku."

_Blink, blink. Shuffle, stre-eetch and groan. . ._

At the same time, the two teens spoke:

"K-Kairi?"

"What's going-"

They faced each other, cerulean pools meeting aqua ones. Neither spoke now, only gaping mouths of shock and the edge of disbelief.

Finding that time was still moving, Riku blinked off the sting of starry lights, sitting up and touching Kairi's arm. "I defeated the darkness in me, and you helped."

Grinning, Kairi shook her head. "No, I just cried all day. _You_ were the one who-"

He pulled her next to him and captured her into a long, fiery kiss. He held her burning cheeks in his hands and skillfully moved his lips around, tasting every ounce of her. She could care less if his lips weren't warm or soft. She loved the feeling of him- whether it was kissing her, warming her heart, or just _him._

He pulled away reluctantly and continued, "We both made an end of him. Now, I can officially enjoy my mid-winter break. . ."

Kairi smiled widely, rolling her eyes, then pointed to herself, saying, "With me, too."

Riku nodded, smiling like her. "Yep, you, too. . ."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

About two and a half hours later, around 5 PM, Riku was taken back- for, God, please be the last time- to Room 308. He'd changed his clothes into a navy turtleneck and black jeans and was sitting on the bed flicking through channels. He'd been examined and re-examined for signs of poison, and it was down to less than five percent remaining. The doctors recommended taking "poison" pills to eliminate it, or urinate the rest of it out- Riku chose Choice 2, saying, "Piss or pills? Ordinary people piss everyday." In fact, he'd recently gotten up and went for the twentieth time in the past two and a half hours, having drunken dozens of glassed and bottled beverages. On the bright side, his hands were softer, and smelled of lemons, but, as he thinks, Kairi's scent outmatches any hand soap.

_'Kairi. Did she leave?' _He thought, gazing at the closed door. He recalled her going to get something. . .He shrugged it off, but wished she'd come running through the-

"HEY-YO, RIKU!" an all-too-familiar Keyblader's voice shouted from behind the door just as it swung open.

Out popped Sora, jumping onto Riku like a flying squirrel, gripping his hands as tight as he could around Riku. Just as he did this, though, his still-casted, still-broken nose slammed onto Riku, which caused Sora to raise up and pat his nose. "Ow, ow, ow. . ." he said miserably.

Riku chuckled a bit. "Finally decided to visit, huh?" He patted his pal on the shoulder. _'So, she went to get Sora, huh. . .'_

Triplet giggles filled the door as it was fully opened and kicked still by a door-stopper. Kairi, Naminé, and Xion stepped into the room and behind them, Roxas, then Axel.

_'She went 'n' brought the whole crew?' _Riku thought, though glad of it.

"Sora, sweetie, you should be more careful!" Naminé scolded Sora with a smile on her face.

Sora blushed and replied, "Sorry, baby, I got too excited." He, too, was grinning all the more.

"Hey, Riku, me 'n' Xion brought ya somethin'," Roxas chipped in, turning to Xion now. "You got it, babe?"

_'Babe and baby? Those two must've fought over the better pet name,' _Riku thought, grinning slightly.

Xion unzipped her grey purse an pulled out a small box wrapped in green, sparkly paper with a little red bowtie. "Here, we thought you'd like it," she said as Riku took the box, then she exclaimed very loudly, "Merry Christmas!" startling everyone in earshot but Roxas, who put his hands on her shoulder and assured everybody, "She's always excited about Christmas coming up, heh."

"Yeah, don't most of us. . ." Axel mumbled sarcastically.

Riku opened the box and in it was a red and gold pin in an "R" shape with brown reindeer ears sticking up on top. It was thoughtful, and Riku decided to pin it to his sweater; strangely, it tended to match. Riku grinned and thanked Roxas and Xion.

"Hey, everyone!" Kairi spoke up firmly as if no one paid any attention. "I wanna say something." She sighed, approaching Riku on the bed, placing her hand on his shoulder. Unaware of what her reasons were for this, Riku found bright pink on his face. "I really want to say how happy I am Riku's okay. He's my best friend. . .and I. . .want everyone to know that we're going-"

"Going to buy a tree together," Riku finished. She narrowed her eyes at him, but before anyone could take notice of it, he urged, "Right? What's presents without a tree, yeah?" His grin showed fairly-visible signs of uneasiness as his blush increased.

Quickly, Kairi nodded. "Yeah, he's right, I. . .was. . .planning a party and. . ." She tried to think fast on this, "We need a big tree, and Riku's strong enough to haul it in!"

Everyone else gave each other suspicious looks, but no one pushed the subject farther.

"A Christmas party sounds fun!" Naminé chirped.

"I gotta think of what to give everybody. . ." Sora muttered.

"Ooh, I might think of songs to sing!" Roxas added.

"I'm good with baking," Xion mentioned.

"I'll take charge of lights. . .Ooh, the fireplace, too. Santa's gonna roast!" Axel schemed.

During their chat of Christmas plans, Kairi sat on the bed and said quietly, "Why'd you stop me?"

"I know what you _really _were gonna say-"

"_So _why stop me?"

"I told you to mean it, didn't I?" Riku was almost too loud, glancing up only to find no one noticed, and he said quieter, "Look, it means nothing if you have to tell them to tell me."

Kairi sighed, squeezing Riku's hand. "I get it. I'll wait a more proper time. . ."

"I'm in no rush," he reassured her.

"Thank you." She leaned over and firmly pecked him on the cheek.

Axel happened to gander upon the occasion. "Hey, do I see sparks?" He was looking directly at them and, when the two looked and so did the others, there was silence.

"_Awkward_.~" Sora sang.

"I guess there's more to Christmas than just buying a tree," Roxas added. "There _is_ the mistletoe, after all."

Both Riku and Kairi rolled their eyes, blushing faint shades of red, but were both beaming to some degree.

Being released from the hospital was the most golden part of Christmas for Riku. . .

. . .Well, more like _silver_.

The whole island got together and arranged the party at school- the biggest place to _hold _a party if it meant you didn't freeze your butt off outside. The gym was a bit unrecognizable due to the winrty snowflakes and twinkling rainbow-colored lights bordered the top walls and allowed the gold and silver tinsels to glimmer when light danced past; spotlights flickered along the walls and floor; long tables set next to each other and clothed in green and red cloths and were filled corner to corner with platters of sweets and foods and a hot apple cider bowl (instead of a punch bowl). Empty cardboard boxes were set on corners and wrapped with shimmering paper and bows. A one-horse open sleigh (with a real horse) was at the farthest left and acted as a photo booth, where students were posing goofily and smiling as a pro snapped photos for one munny each. The main attraction was just outside the gym where vacant space was, but was now replaced with a magnificently decorated tree. Riku didn't haul that one in; it was brought by the school. The best view to see it from was the balcony upstairs of the gym, but stepping outside the gym's back door and craning your neck up was just as captivating. Sphere ornaments, tinsels, and lights encircled the hundred-foot rotating tree so all angles could be noticed. The star on top was white and shone ten thousand watts' worth.

In his hands a Styrofoam cup of steaming cider, Riku leaned his back against the snow-dusted ledge of the balcony, turning his head to his left to gaze upon this haven. Different colors of lights tinted Riku's nipped-cold face as the tree turned clockwise: first red, then blue, then pink, yellow, and green. He set his cup well away from him so it wouldn't be knocked over, sighing like he never sighed before- in a _troubled way._

"What's wrong with me?" he whispered to the snow. He took a cautious sip of the scorched cider as if to let himself answer _himself_. "I'm better now than I've been in almost three weeks, we're partying like we're all family. . .So why do I feel. . ." His mouth twitched as he breathed the next word, "empty?" Slightly outraged, he slammed his fist down on the ledge, causing his cup to jump scared and its liquid contents to shiver. Riku lowered his head in his hands, massaging his anxious eyes using his index fingers. Lifting his head so that his palms held his chin, he finalized, "I should just get outta here."

Turning on his heels which crunched at the snow, he drew out his hand for the door before pulling it away, suddenly quite abashed. Kairi was there, brightly looking at him, but barely frowning at Riku's embarrassment.

"What are you doing here, Riku?"

Lips quiet, yet drying from Kairi's presence, Riku only shrugged, subconsciously diving his hands into his pants pockets.

"Don't act quiet now!" she ordered, pouting. "You should come inside. It's freezing out here-"

"I _like it_ here," he snapped, sounding colder than he meant to.

Kairi bit a corner of her lip to stop a gasp. What bothered Riku all of the sudden? Instead of asking, she said, "Someone's being a Grinch today."

When she received a deep scowl and darkly tinged eyes from him, she fought fearful features and gently led him toward the ledge. He didn't look at her, which bothered Kairi.

"How are you feeling, Kairi? Right now, at this very instant?" Riku surprisingly asked, eyes ahead still.

Kairi blinked, then, unable to come up with an answer straight away, tugged on her pink sweater sleeve nervously.

Finding silence the wrong answer, Riku continued, "Then explain to me how someone could feel so empty on such a joyful night."

Blinking again, but this time out of bewilderment, Kairi came up with an answer quicker. "Start off by telling me how _you_ feel. Right now, at this very instant."

Riku's grouchy sigh died in the wind that blew his hair a bit above his shoulders, calming him a little. "I'm trying. . .to get over this reprehensible storm. I feel. . .like you're doing too much for me. That you're wasting away for me. That. . ."

"You don't deserve me?" she finished before silence could lengthen. She dropped her gaze and lazily ran a hand through her long burgundy locks. "Riku, maybe you're just being-"

Riku squeezed te ledge with such an iron grip, you could hear the wood choking. Kairi stopped speaking as a shaky beath withdrew from Riku's mouth.

"Help me to understand why I love you, but feel that I shouldn't." His voice broke with each word.

Tears iced up in her eyes and as they fell, which Riku then smelled and sighed at. Turning to face her, even as she lowered her pathetic look, he placed a hand on her shoulder, longing the proper answer.

"It's because of me," she replied lightly. Riku could barely hear her, so he leaned his ear closer. "I'm the reason, because. . .I haven't told you how I felt. And you've been waiting and waiting, but long enough."

". . .Now you're just pitying me," said Riku bitterly. "If you say it now, it won't have good reason."

"But that_ is_ the reason you feel you shouldn't love me, right?"

"Yes, but- well, I-I. . ."

She boiled over, yelling, "Then stop holding me back! I freaking love you, Riku, so stop being so stubborn and let me!"

Restricting his protests, she pulled his face closer to hers and smashed her lips over his. Riku's reply came out as short muffles and a low gasp as her tongue found his. Some light moans escaped his mouth and he held Kairi's face this time. Kairi lowered her arms to his waist and squeezed the fabric of his sweater, whimpering a bit as Riku pressed his lips deeper onto hers, tasting her. Sugar, just like he anticipated, was her flavor, something to be desired to the very limits of. Riku tasted of the cider he drank, but it gave him a natural savor for Kairi to absorb. Breaking this cycle of hope was the last thing Riku wanted, but accepted as Kairi slowly pulled back, keeping their foreheads together. "I love you," she whispered, stroking his left cheek. "I really mean it, Riku."

Riku laughed breezily, his warm breath tickling Kairi's nose. "You know, now. . .that empty feeling is gone."

She giggled, the cute way she always did. "I knew it would." She took his hand. "C'mon, let's get back to the party."

-.-.-.-.-.

Love is a strong word; its odor goes beyond the strongest spice. Its smell was all around the world, lingering on people who took no notice to it but to the significant other.

Riku wouldn't say Kairi was his girlfriend, just the one he loved; his lover. It lessened the feeling of awkwardness as people would tend to ask a guy, "Is she your girlfriend?" He sighed at it quite often.

Things were all too good. They came to the undeserved, the ignorant, cocky ones like Riku, as he says himself. But it didn't matter anymore, not so long as he had Kairi. . .

Riku could say a lot of things about today, but if his moment with Kairi could be summed up in one word it would be 'golden'.

**I am FINISHED! FINALLY! I know you readers are all happy about THAT! Thank you all for the reviews in chaps 1-9 but please please please review chap 10! I know you liked this chap. . . .**

**possible FAQ::**

**Will there be a sequel?**

No, there won't be. I don't really want to come up with a whole 'nother enemy plot; just be glad Riku and Kairi are together at the end! ^_^

**Anymore Riku/Kairi stories?**

Future oneshots? Maybe. Wait and see~


	12. Ex Chap: Keep Me Satisfied

_Chapter 9.5 Keep Me Satisfied_

_Riku didn't even ask for it. He didn't imply his desires using his eyes. Kairi just did it on her own just like the first time. She wound her arms tenderly around his neck, her fingers ascending into his silky hair. She parted her lips as she moved her face closer to his, fluttered her eyes to a close, felt their noses touching, followed by their lips._

One of Kairi's hands tightened against Riku's metallic locks while the other stroked the nape of his delicately warm neck. Riku melted into Kairi's touches and firmly squeezed against the hourglass dips in her waist, causing her to lightly gasp, but smile beneath her lips.

Two can play at that game. . .

Kairi pushed her tongue hard against his teeth, easily parting them to gain access to his savory tongue. She swirled her tongue around the tip of his, earning a relaxed groan from beneath his throat. Riku took some steps back, the backs of his knees ramming into the stony, cold metal on the mattress. Gripping his shoulders with much exaggerated force, Kairi managed to push him down onto the bed.

Kairi felt in control now that she was atop Riku. Getting a last lick of Riku's heated tongue, she broke the kiss only to lower it to _his neck_. With expanding eyes and an abrupt gasp to how longingly she sucked onto a single part of his neck, Riku plucked Kairi off by tugging an end of her hair, albeit hard. The girl responded with a loud shriek.

"Ow! Did you have to-" She began before looking at his questionable face and gasped, flushing instantly, "R-Riku! I-I'm. . ." She rolled off of him only to crash onto the floor; after shortly groaning, she rose to her feet and continued, "I didn't mean to do that. . ."

Also a bit red-faced, Riku rose up on his bed, clearing his throat uneasily. "W-Well, I'm sure you, um, had your reasons to. . ." What a stupid thing to say. What "reasons" could there be for that unexpectation?

"No, I just. . .I thought-"

"Thought what?" he asked in a thorny tone.

Kairi bit her lip. "I thought that. . ." _What?_ "You're a better kisser than Sora!" she shouted out of the blue and flew out the room, slamming the door.

Watching her leave in silence, Riku finally exhaled a short, breathy sigh and placed a hand on his forehead, combing it through his sweaty hair. His ill heart fluttered rapidly, but it ached to. That was a first experience with a kiss below the lips, in which Riku figured Sora was a master of. Riku sighed a light, "Why?" and flopped back onto his bed, closing his eyes, imagining what he could've said if he stopped her from leaving.

What urged Kairi to be overthrown by ecstasy?

Kairi barged open the front door, allowing the sudden rush of wind and snow to cool her in and out. A hand lowered to her heart as it felt like bursting inside her chest.

_'I'm such an idiot!' _she screamed to herself and shook her head. _'Riku probably thinks I'm a-"_

She turned to her right to notice her brunette ex lingering against the side wall, his hood draped over his spiky hair, his head looking up into the snowfall that littered over his coat. Why wasn't she smiling at the sight of him like she used to?

"Sora-" She spoke wanting to shout over, but spoke little in regret, then closed her mouth. He appeared as if he didn't want to be bothered, and she didn't have any business with him anymore anyway. . .

Ignoring her urgent thoughts to ask him for company or even a ride home, she entered the parked cab without a second glance. . .

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hello?"

"Sora? Hey, It's me."

"Kairi? Hey. You're still up?"

Rolling over onto her stomach atop her cushiony mattress, she nodded. "Yep. I can't sleep."

Stifling a yawn, however, mentally spotted her lie. Hoping to wake up fully, Kairi took a large sip of her brewed raspberry-lemon tea and listened to Sora's question: "So, you gonna fill me in on what happened?"

"Where to begin. . .?" she mumbled stallingly, for she knew where. "I just kept at it with convincing Riku that he needs our help to survive this."

Sora's expected response was as simple as an 'm-hm,' but instead, he asked, "Have you tried kissing some sense into him?"

Kairi nearly either spewed or choked on her almost-swallowed tea. Gulping loudly, she spat, "Excuse me?"

"C'mon, Kairi. You're not the only one informed on his condition. Did'ya forget he's also my best friend?"

"Despite the fight?" Kairi challenged, not meaning to sound recoiling or offensive, but triggered Sora's silence. "Sora? I'm sorry. Th-That fight was rough, huh?"

"No," said Sora. "It was hell."

"Oh-" Kairi could barely reply in half-hearted astonishment as Sora continued:

"I've never been. . .so _scared _of my best friend before. Ansem had him then, Kairi. He had Riku in his clutches and even I couldn't break them." His sigh was jittery, as if he struggled against tears. "I mean, God, my teeth felt so out of place when he socked my in my mouth. I was spitting and rinsing blood for at least a half hour straight. And my nose, heh, it's got a pretty little cast on it. But, you know, these pains will subside. Riku's isn't. He's got pains in his heart, Kairi, and they aren't from Ansem, or the fight. You get it?"

Kairi pretended like she did so it would disallow Sora to rant on. "Yes, I do."

Sora sighed, and Kairi winced as if he'd caught her manipulation. "He loves you, Kairi. Don't doubt that. He'll wait on the edges of the earth until you see it. And don't get me wrong, Kai, you'll see it, too. It's just. . .you. . ." Another sigh. "Well, you know what I mean, right? Yeah. So. . .I'm 'bout to head for bed, my phone's dying."

"Okay. Goodnight, Sora."

"'Night, Kai."

With eyes scrunched tightly, she said as boldly as she could, "I love you."

Pause. _Pause._ **Pause. **

"S-Sora?"

"I-I love you, too, Kai."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kairi woke up after the sun was able to, finding her sleep had vanished. Rubbing her eyes, she turned over to her side to gaze at her analog clock that read 8:26 in neon green. How ironic it was her not be be ready for school when it starts in a mere thirty-four minutes. . .

Instead of readying her backpack of books and papers, she readied her makeup bag with eyeliner and lip gloss before dressing and showering and heading out the door.

Early-bird employees had arrived and were on the job as Kairi drove herself to the hospital doors. Locking the doors of her red vehicle, she entered slowly as there was still ice on the sidewalk, recalling that her head was still sore from yesterday's fall.

_'Riku's probably awake this early,' _she inferred, trotting down the hall to his room.

She opened the door and entered, first laying eyes on his bed, which was empty of Riku but full of his pulled over and wrinkled sheets. Her ears caught the faint sound of piping hot water running and she concluded that Riku must've been in the shower. After only a brief listen, however the water was shut off. Pausing for a bit, Kairi then decided that now it was best to speak up.

"H-Hello?" she greeted like she was shaking.

"Oh, is that you, Kairi?" Riku, who hadn't come out of the bathroom and was talking from inside, greeted in a fresh, yet baffled voice. "Good. . .morning."

It was 8:59 am, so unlike Kairi to visit. Kairi herself didn't acknowledge why she was here now, she just _was_- shouldn't Riku be happy about that?

"Good morning Riku," she greeted back, clothing a mellow tone.

"Hey, would you mind doing something for me?" he asked.

"Sure," she chirped volunarily, just now closing the entrance door behind her.

"I set out a pile of clothes to wear- could you get them for me? I forgot to bring 'em in and I think I set them. . ."

Kairi's eyes widened as she listened, but his words began to not register in her head. Her mind began to reel as she began to think that if she gathered his clothes and opened the door to give them to him, she might. . .or he might. . .or _might be_. . .

"Kairi, are you still there?" asked a concerned Riku from behind the door.

Her heart jumped. "Oh, yes, sorry. What do you want me to do, again?"

"Okay- you know what? You just stand there. . ." the door opened, and out stepped a very much dripping wet Riku with a towel wrapped around his waist, "and I'll get them myself."

Kairi was struck as she watched him go to the far edge of his bed, scoop up his clothes, and trot back into the bathroom, passing her gaze with a 'here they were, stupid' look.

She pressed her palms into the wall behind her to keep herself from falling. Just then, Kairi had thoughts she never endured: the desires to sroke his toned, wet abs and muscles, to bite his hardened nipples, to rub herself against that bulge she saw from underneath the towel.

Those thoughts _never, _not for the _slightest_ moment in the most _intimate_ moments, have crossed her mind since being with her ex for _almost three years._

Riku stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed in a gray sweater and black jeans, shortly after. Kairi stared at him, her mouth parted, and turned hot pink. Noticing that she didn't return his smile, Riku grew perturbed and asked, "You okay, Kairi?"

She blinked slowly before answering, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Your face is pretty red. Did you catch a cold out there?"

She shook her head. "I just. . .um, it's kinda hot in here, is all."

Riku found that answer reasonable. "Yeah, guess it would be after taking a shower, huh?"

Kairi suddenly grew redder, but Riku seemed to miss it as he closed the bathroom door.

"Hey, Kairi, I get another day to leave the hospital after a checkup. So, later, do you wanna head somewhere?"

Kairi nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, sure."

"You don't really sound like it," Riku immediately realized, hearing how. . .un-fun. . .she sounded.

She planted a wide grin on her face for him. "I do, Riku! See?" She pointed to her lips as if it had significance. "Maybe we can go ice skating. Sound fun?"

Riku turned away, chuckling at this, stifling his acending laughter with his hand. "Now _that's _funny."

She glared in his direction. "What is?"

"I recall last winter that you fell on your butt at _least _fourty times in an hour of ice skating. It hurt you to sit but you had to asist it with Sora's box of frozen ice cream. Which he, of course, ate five servings of. . ."

Kairi winced silently at the hearing of Sora's name. "Will you. . .not mention him, please?"

This obviously made Riku release a grumbling sigh. "Fine, I will. Geez." He seemed to be now telling himself, "Now I can't even bring him up in a converation, huh? Is that guy _that much _of a heartbreak?"

"_I_ ended our relationship, remember?" she deliberately shouted. "He didn't do anything to. . ." She stopped. Lies. She _knew_ Sora was in the wrong here. Riku didn't even need to imply it either. "I mean, I know what he did to break my- No! I was the one who-"

"Kairi, it wasn't your fault-"

"Shut up! It was my fault I didn't stop him! You know that. . ." She whimpered, the sting in her eyes initiating, and dropped her head to the ground.

Fighting back the urge to "comfort" her with a hug that would only feed his desires, he dove his hands in his pockets for a moment, and reassured her, "Even if you stopped him, it probably wouldn't change the way he felt. It would've caused a huge rift in your friendship if you could only imagine how ashamed he'd be to approach you, knowing you'd only resent him for what he did."

There was a short pause. Kairi's tears welled back down, but sprung back up as she laughed, hard.

Riku grew puzzled, and flushed in deep embarrassment. "What's funny?"

"You! Wha-What you said! It sounded all poetic and stuff! '_You could only imagine. . .' _But it was true at the same time! And it was funny!" She continued her giggle-fest until she stopped altogether. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Riku didn't answer. "If so, thank you."

He turned to her, beaming a bit. "Well, um, if that's what you wanna call it, then, you're welcome."

As an emphasised thank-you, she stepped towards him, stood on her toes, and pecked him lightly on the lips. She knew she was wrong, so why did she do it all the time?

"What's with you, always doing that?" he asked in a light tone. "I've kissed you only once, but you've kissed me-"

"Three times, counting now." When she saw his astounded face, she blushed. "With Sora, I've kept count only this year. Not that it matters."

Riku set his hand on her shoulder, creating distance between the two. "Each time you were the one in control, it usually got more. . ._intense_, right? But when I kissed you, you stopped me almost immediately."

"I was nervous," she admitted quietly.

"So was I," he agreed.

"So why did you kiss me back then?"

"You tell me."

She locked her lips at this, flustered. _He_ was the one who wanted a first kiss in the first place- why was he putting her out on the spot?

"Watch," Riku said, getting her attention. "If I kiss you, it's not the same."

"Prove it," she challenged. There was a hint of spice in her voice when she said those words. . .

A challenge was a challenge. His fingers shaking, he placed them on her shoulders; blue and aqua eyes met. "C-Close your eyes," he demanded tensely, if not nervously. And as she did, he slowly joined his lips with hers.

Instantaneously, Kairi began to withdraw from him by stepping back but was stopped by Riku tightening his hold on her shoulders. Kairi surrendered to the flavor of Riku's kiss and she felt like she was swaying into his arms; she drew closer to him until she could _hear _him breathing.

The room gradually sizzled- Kairi's face felt humid, both her ruby sweater and hair felt sticky- but Kairi seemed to be the only one feeling this way.

Riku barely retracted his lips before Kairi pulled them in again.

Now things were getting ridiculous. She changed her ways so quickly- at first, she wanted nothing to do with how he felt (not like she knew), but now her actions were so untamed that Riku had to order her around and practically step out of character to surpress her lovesick beast. This ecstatic Kairi- the unreal, unknown, new Kairi- wasn't going to fly with what Riku wanted in her.

He only ignited New Kairi's urges by fitting his hands into her waist again. She reached her limit and thrashed her lips into his neck like the night before.

Riku, at first, wanted to push her off, but only found himself exhaustively _enjoying _this. Thumb-wrestling at his desires to reject her actions, he sighed into the kiss and found himself nibbling hungrily at her ear.

A blush as quick as lightning buzzed to the cooling shell of her ear, but increased her ecstatic actions to masaging her palms along his clothed chest. She could easily trace the packs she'd peeked at recently, declaring that he indeed had a six. Satisfyed at that, she felt Riku deserved a lick to the throat.

Riku was sure his skin felt like jumping out from his body at his best friend's new ambitions. The distance between the two decreased by the seconds as they mauled each other to a wall- much like a recent time ago. Kairi's chest shamelessly heaved against Riku's, an action that poked at him to rebel, but also poked at him down in his jeans.

_'I've got him now.'_

New Kairi obeyed her every lustful wish.

She stroked up and down his sweating- wet enough- arms.

Her unoccupant hand found an odd job at finding his nipples from underneath his sweater and swirling them hard into her little fingerpads.

She felt a little damp in her lower regions as she grinded her hips into the rigid member.

And those actions plus this unheard-of Kairi equaled a deliberately angered Riku.

"Kairi_-" _he was past heated and shoved her off him- _"stop!"_

The push, if not from brute force, caused the tacked mirror to feel victimized, and swung from its tack and skid to the floor.

Old Kairi sprung from the air and back to her own body, staggering and her eyes widening, miscalculating, at first, why she'd been harshly wafted off her feet; it came to grips as she saw how baffled, if not relieved, Riku's crimson face was. She stepped back as if avoiding herself, deeply apologetic. But she could say nothing.

"You should probably. . .just go," Riku ordered, his voice almost too quiet. Kairi only looked at him, then the mirror, cracked in a corner, its frame very loose. He couldn't even touch her in hopes to get her to look at him and answer his inevitable question, "What was that, Kairi?"

"I. . .I thought-."

"We were going to have _sex?"_

Her swollen lip easily bled as she gnawed at it harshly. Why was that same intimate moment with Sora boomeranging back and clunking her in the back of the head?

Because irony's a bitch.

"You _said _I should prove to you that who controls the kiss causes a different reaction. And _you _just wanted to kiss me," Kairi oh-so uselessly protested.

Riku fumed a bit more, turning redder that Kairi believed was possible for him. "Don't you. . .Kairi, you. . .Don't blame me! I just wanted to prove a point! _You _of all people know that it was _you_ who-"

"I'm _sorry_! I'm sorry, Riku! I'm sorry I was acting like such a. . .slut, just now. I-I wasn't thinking. I imagined Sora for a brief moment, about the time he almost moved in on me, and I just felt turned on my that." She knew that was a lie. Sora hadn't popped into the picture until Riku's question. But her lie masked itself in truth as she gave Riku the quickest but most apologetic hug as possible. "I'm really sorry."

As Riku's face toned down to its temporarily original pale, he sighed and replied, "I forgive you, Kairi. But. . .really, it's best you'd leave."

Persistent as she was, she assured him, "You know you don't want me to."

"Shouldn't you be at school?" he brought up to oppose her point.

"I'm not going." Assuming he'd ask why, she quickly continued, "I ran late, is all."

"You were avoiding him. You know that."

Kairi shook her head. "Please don't. . .I know, you're right- I didn't want to see him. But what's wrong with that?"

"I'm your cover-up, that's what."

Kairi rose an eyebow. "Excuse me?"

"Your 'ex troubles' only led to you pleadin' to me for comfort- or, at least, it was comfort at first. Now you're just throwing your lips all over me to think that _that's _what I meant. . .when I told you, 'mean it when you say you love me.'"

She was silent, absorbing this. So whose fault was it, hers? He was wrong, he just _had_ to be.

"It's no wonder I didn't feel much of anything. Hell, I was enough of a dumbass to try and test you like that." That seemed apologetic as could be, and Riku sighed inwardly and sat on his bed. Kairi rooted her feet in place.

_'He's my cover-up? __I'm __throwing my lips around? Who is he to tell me that?' _she errupted in her head. _'It's his fault; if he hadn't tried to kiss me the first time, I wouldn't be the one doing it.' _She sighed quiet enough for only her to hear. _'But. . .without Riku, I wouldn't have __anyone __to kiss.' _

As the sunrise began to melt the dangling icicles on the gutters, the hour came appropriate for Riku to gain permission to socialize outdoors- and Kairi to do the same.

"These skates feel like they squeeze my feet," Kairi groaned as she tip-toed across the bench at the ice rink.

"You probrably have the laces too tight," Riku suggested, bending over to tie one of his own black ropes, his leg extended in front of him.

"I guess I do," she agreed, sinking down onto the wooden bench and folded her leg so her knee was close to her chin. The seat she _intentionally _took was directly behind Riku- their backs brushed each other, sending a light entity of shivers down her spine. Perhaps he'd grow nervous or snap at her; he didn't as Kairi shakily looked over her shoulder to see him continue to tie the laces on his other skate. He stood up once finished, looking down in her direction and waiting. "You coming?" he asked. Nervously, she nodded and hastily tied her laces.

The ice glistened from the sunny indoor lights, and of course, the rink sent cold up Kairi's legs. She prayed that she wouldn't fall even once, which seemed unlikely because she hadn't ice-skated in a while. With a moment's notice of her nervousness, Riku slowly and wantingly took hold of her mild hand. Kairi looked up at him warily, but gradually shook it off and accepted his offer with a light squeeze, taking to the ice with much prudence.

Riku very much avoided the stares and goofy smiles he felt upon people who assumed they were a happy couple. The two skated out of sync and didn't look at each other as they continued to hold hands. It felt routine as they did this for a few revolutions around the rink, but a change soon took flight. . .

Kairi's feet wobbled beneath her and she bit her lip, tightened her hand around Riku while waving her other arm frantically in a circle. "A-aah! R-Riku!" she called quite loudly as Riku was only across from her.

"I've gotcha," he said supportively, resting his free arm across her shoulders and easing her up. Kairi blushed at this, embarrassed of nearly falling in front of him, but also at how gentle and loving he smiled at her and how his teeth seemed to glisten in the light. She shyly smiled her thanks and continued to skate around with a tighter hold on his hand; Riku's was still draped over her shoulder as it stroked her cheek and the hair that swept against it.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It was four o' clock when Riku and Kairi exited the rink, grabbed lunch nearby, and took a relaxing walk in the park. The salt on the sidewalk crunched under their feet louder than the cakey snow. The temperature grew a little warmer with the sunlight aiding it, close to fourty degrees. Atop a hill was an alpine and stalky tree that was efortless to climb. A branch extended well enough to be seated upon. As Riku and Kairi sat there, the sun began to set quite early.

"It's so pretty," Kairi acknowedged to the horizon, smiling dreamily.

"Yeah," Riku agreed, leaning his back against the stony bark. "It's been a while since I've gotten a glimpse of that. . ."

Kairi blinked while taking in Riku's words, then turned to him. "A glimpse of what?"

"You smiling so sincerely," he told her, staring into the peachy cotton clouds.

"You, too," she said, smiling wider, poking him in the side playfully. Riku fought back a ticklish giggle and placed his hands in his lap. "I like it when you're smiling."

". . .Thanks," Riku said after some consideration.

In a flash, Riku felt Kairi's head rest on his shoulder. Kairi blushed and squinted her eyes shut, hoping Riku wouldn't reject this. A sheer sign of acceptance was Riku's hand moving up and down her forearm as he leaned his head against hers with a comfortable sigh.

"I'm sorry for being so pushy, Riku. I'm getting over Sora, and it's thanks to you," Kairi said, stroking the back of one of Riku's hands.

"It's not your fault, or his," Riku assured her. "All that matters is that you both are doing what your hearts tell you is best."

"Like spending time with you. And. . ." She lifted her head and captured his tender lips, then resumed to her headrest. ". . .kissing you."

Riku breathed out a nervous laugh that tickled Kairi's forehead. "You're stupid," he muttered into her hair.

"Thanks," Kairi mimicked, and, with a rosy blush and a smile, she nuzzled her head deeper into his shoulder.

**added a few new scenes i forgot to add. R&R!**


End file.
